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Scottish Mysteries #2
Burning Secrets
19th century Scotland. Ardnamurchan Peninsula on the west coast is inhabited by mining folk and crofters eking out a living from the unforgiving land, turning a blind eye to the smugglers who plague the coast.
Harold, Simmy’s brother, pulls a bag of bones out of the water near his home and, not long afterwards, a man is viciously attacked and left for dead. He is the assistant to Gustav Wengler, eccentric owner of the local lead mines and creator of the strange monuments known as the White Cathedral.
How can they be connected? And what is the relevance of the unusual sundial in Ockle churchyard, well known to both Harold and Simmy?
Smugglers and sundial; a Floating Chapel and a foreigner heading their way from Denmark.
Someone needs to find out what it’s all about before more lives, including Simmy’s and Harold’s, are torn apart.
Gray’s richly researched historical crime series will keep readers gripped to the very last page.
Harold, Simmy’s brother, pulls a bag of bones out of the water near his home and, not long afterwards, a man is viciously attacked and left for dead. He is the assistant to Gustav Wengler, eccentric owner of the local lead mines and creator of the strange monuments known as the White Cathedral.
How can they be connected? And what is the relevance of the unusual sundial in Ockle churchyard, well known to both Harold and Simmy?
Smugglers and sundial; a Floating Chapel and a foreigner heading their way from Denmark.
Someone needs to find out what it’s all about before more lives, including Simmy’s and Harold’s, are torn apart.
Gray’s richly researched historical crime series will keep readers gripped to the very last page.
382 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2022
11 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Clio Gray
20 books13 followersClio Gray has won many awards for her writing, including the Harry Bowling First Novel Award. She has been Man Booker Nominated, Long Listed for the Baileys, and Short Listed for the Cinnamon Prize. Born in Yorkshire, she spent her later childhood in Devon before returning to Yorkshire to go to university, after which she ended up in Scotland. For the past thirty years she has lived in the Highlands where she intends to remain.
Gray eschewed the usual route of marriage, mortgage, children, and instead spent her working life in libraries, filling her home with books and sharing that home with her dogs.
When she gets a few days off you can find her in her campervan scooting around the lesser known areas of Scotland and the Highlands that haven’t been brought to ruination by the dreadful tourist push called the NC500.
Gray eschewed the usual route of marriage, mortgage, children, and instead spent her working life in libraries, filling her home with books and sharing that home with her dogs.
When she gets a few days off you can find her in her campervan scooting around the lesser known areas of Scotland and the Highlands that haven’t been brought to ruination by the dreadful tourist push called the NC500.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 16, 2017
I would like to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for an advance copy of Burning Secrets, the second novel in the Scottish Mysteries series, set on the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
It is 1869 and Archie Louden is returning home from a buying mission in Denmark when he is attacked and killed. Brogar Finn and Sholto McKay of the Pan-European Mining Company of Lundt and McCleery's are in the area looking for strontium but are soon diverted to helping Matthias McQuat, manager of the local mine and finder of the strontium, find the murderer.
I wasn't aware from the blurb that this is a historical novel so it's not quite what I expected it to be - a straightforward murder investigation. So while it is a murder investigation it opens out into Dan Brown territory with the uncovering of old historical secrets and theories. Unfortunately this holds no interest for me and I found it extremely unexciting and boring.
Archie's murder is solved fairly quickly so it is the ramifications of his murder that occupy the novel, namely the lengths people will go to for knowledge or to hide their crimes. I can't say I found it convincing but I can't say why without spoilers.
For me Burning Secrets is a very difficult novel to get immersed in and I never had any difficulty putting it down. The plot is not gripping and while I understand that Ms Gray has done her research on the area and era the modern dialogue destroys and sense of it.
Burning Secrets is a well thought out novel, just not for me.
It is 1869 and Archie Louden is returning home from a buying mission in Denmark when he is attacked and killed. Brogar Finn and Sholto McKay of the Pan-European Mining Company of Lundt and McCleery's are in the area looking for strontium but are soon diverted to helping Matthias McQuat, manager of the local mine and finder of the strontium, find the murderer.
I wasn't aware from the blurb that this is a historical novel so it's not quite what I expected it to be - a straightforward murder investigation. So while it is a murder investigation it opens out into Dan Brown territory with the uncovering of old historical secrets and theories. Unfortunately this holds no interest for me and I found it extremely unexciting and boring.
Archie's murder is solved fairly quickly so it is the ramifications of his murder that occupy the novel, namely the lengths people will go to for knowledge or to hide their crimes. I can't say I found it convincing but I can't say why without spoilers.
For me Burning Secrets is a very difficult novel to get immersed in and I never had any difficulty putting it down. The plot is not gripping and while I understand that Ms Gray has done her research on the area and era the modern dialogue destroys and sense of it.
Burning Secrets is a well thought out novel, just not for me.
April 2, 2017
I couldn’t finish this one and only made it through the first 6 chapters. Personally, I made the choice to quit because of the numerous times God’s name was taken in vain. It wasn’t the only reason, but it was the main reason. I was also having trouble following the story line. It jumped from person to person and setting to setting with no apparent connection. I’m sure if you read farther it would draw together, but I still found it annoying for the bit I read.
I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley and Urbane Publications. No review was required.
I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley and Urbane Publications. No review was required.
March 8, 2017
5 Stars
Our story is set on an island called Ardnamurchan off the coast of Scotland. In a little village called Strontian exists an active lead mine owned by the Galena Ore Mines. It is both a forbidden and lonely place.
Sholto McKay and Brogar Finn return in this book. They are traveling together on this journey and have settled in to make a great team. They still represent Lundt and McCleery’s Pan-European Mining Company. With them are Gilligan and Hugh, two employees of the mining company.
Gustav Wengler is an inventor, scientist and mathematical genius living on an isolated island with strange and stately structures on it. He calls his home Havengore and it is away from the rest of the village. His assistant, Archie Louden is missing and he is very frustrated and upset. Wengler gets Jed Thornbrough and Matthias McQuat to go look for Archie. They team up with Sholto and Brogar and together they find Archie’s body.
Matthias gathers everyone together and sets them off in different directions to discover who killed Archie and what happened to his horse.
A subplot of the book concerns a sundial that disappeared from (Copenhagen) some ten years earlier than our murder and the effect it has on the various inhabitants of Ardnamurchan. The group concludes that the earlier death is linked to Archie’s death. They investigate it as well.
This is a very well written and plotted book. I liked it better than the first in this series. Ms. Gray is a brilliant writer, no doubt about that. I can hardly wait for the third book in this series.
I want to send a huge thank you to Netgalley and Urbane Publications to forwarding to me a copy of this most remarkable book to read.
Our story is set on an island called Ardnamurchan off the coast of Scotland. In a little village called Strontian exists an active lead mine owned by the Galena Ore Mines. It is both a forbidden and lonely place.
Sholto McKay and Brogar Finn return in this book. They are traveling together on this journey and have settled in to make a great team. They still represent Lundt and McCleery’s Pan-European Mining Company. With them are Gilligan and Hugh, two employees of the mining company.
Gustav Wengler is an inventor, scientist and mathematical genius living on an isolated island with strange and stately structures on it. He calls his home Havengore and it is away from the rest of the village. His assistant, Archie Louden is missing and he is very frustrated and upset. Wengler gets Jed Thornbrough and Matthias McQuat to go look for Archie. They team up with Sholto and Brogar and together they find Archie’s body.
Matthias gathers everyone together and sets them off in different directions to discover who killed Archie and what happened to his horse.
A subplot of the book concerns a sundial that disappeared from (Copenhagen) some ten years earlier than our murder and the effect it has on the various inhabitants of Ardnamurchan. The group concludes that the earlier death is linked to Archie’s death. They investigate it as well.
This is a very well written and plotted book. I liked it better than the first in this series. Ms. Gray is a brilliant writer, no doubt about that. I can hardly wait for the third book in this series.
I want to send a huge thank you to Netgalley and Urbane Publications to forwarding to me a copy of this most remarkable book to read.
March 28, 2024
I like mysteries and I like historical fiction, so I really enjoyed this story that has several mysteries intertwined as well as true history about astronomy. The characters are intriguing and likable and the action is paced fast enough to keep the story going while still retaining a feel for the slower pace of life 150 years ago.
This is the second in a series, which I didn’t know until after I’d started it, but I don’t think not having read the first detracted from my enjoyment, and now I’m keen to read the first.
This is the second in a series, which I didn’t know until after I’d started it, but I don’t think not having read the first detracted from my enjoyment, and now I’m keen to read the first.
November 9, 2019
With each book, Gray tempts us - the reader - with a story peppered with well researched historical fact and a carefully woven plot, that like the dangerous quicksand of the Solway Firth mudflats, can suck the reader in unawares, escape being nigh on impossible.
for full review of the series >>> Melisende's Library
for full review of the series >>> Melisende's Library
March 13, 2017
A truly brilliant Scottish adventure story! I adored the characters in the Burning Secrets by Clio Gray. They had full personalities, believable backstories, interesting quirks and as I read I became attached to them. I look forward to reading the other books in this series to see how they develop and change as the challenges they face as they travel bring them new adventure.
Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.
Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.
March 30, 2017
Not so much a murder mystery as a great adventure story.Set in 19th century Scotland , on a remote stretch of western coast , it has the perfect setting.A man is brutally murdered allegedly by smuglers, but there is more to it, nothing is so straightforward. What was he bringing back to his master, who lives as a recluse on a private island surrounded by mysterious structures? And who does the skeleton, accidently found, belongs to? And where did that huge sundial, inscripted with strange languages, came from? Yes, definitely an adventure story!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews