MURDER IN DRUMBRECK BAY an absolutely gripping and atmospheric Scottish crime mystery

Detective Majory Fleming Mysteries #3

by Aline Templeton

434 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2026

About the author

Aline Templeton grew up in the East Neuk of Fife and was educated at St Leonards School, St Andrews and Cambridge University. She has worked in education and broadcasting and has written numerous stories and articles for national newspapers and magazines. Templeton was a bench Justice of the Peace for ten years and is a former Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland, now living in Edinburgh. She is married with a grown up family.

She has written nine crime novels, published by Hodder & Stoughton in Britain, and has also been published in the United States and several European countries. After writing seven stand-alone books, she started a series set in Galloway and featuring DI Marjory Fleming, the first of which – Cold In The Earth – was an Ottakar's Crime Novel of the Month and an Independent Best Summer Read. The second, The Darkness and the Deep, was published in July 2006, and there are now six books in the DI Fleming series.

Reviews

[Patricia Bruce]

Excellent read

Book number 3 read and enjoyed immensely
You get the feeling that your part of DI Flemings family.
Its hard to imagine her living on a farm, but it all works!
She actually sounds like a real person such as the writer describes her.
I did find this book a bit tough, so many redherrings, but the culprit was mentioned at the beginning ......
The only thing I dont like about these books is the author, on a few occasions has used the word ' fretting' to describe worrying , that is a Yorkshire saying, not Scots .
Also, in this book, some was called 'pet' that's definitely down Newcastle way.
Can't wait to start on book now 4, which I bought and downloaded all at once.

[J. Brain]

Cracking the Genre

Aline Templeton delivers. She weaves her plots with humanity and verve. Hooking the reader like a fish, and reeling them in with plenty of twists and turns so that no one can guess whether the fish will ever be landed. Of course, it is. Flopping on the deck of the fishing boat - like a ‘denouement’ as fresh and as unpredictable as all the great murder mystery writers. A skilled writer that serves up a quality murder mystery.

[Jacqui Huntley]

Another gripping read

‘Big Marge’ has another murder to investigate, that of a young woman with history. Then there’s the local marina made to sound like a poor man’s Martha’s Vineyard. More murders, mis-direction, teenagers, unfaithful couples, history, tragedy and a bent policeman. Lovely descriptions of place, my place, even if the characters don’t really match it. Well written and well worth reading the series.

[Karen Schlosberg]

Enjoyed this but she didn’t really explain how the criminal was involved at the end. It just laid out a story but there was nothing leading to it.

[Linda Park]

great read

Easy enjoyable read lots going on and raced through it Thank you already downloaded the next book 4 start that after dinner