The Gripping Beast
An Orkney Islands Mystery
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Malice Domestice Award for Best First Traditional Mystery Novel
In Northern Scotland The Gripping Beast introduces readers to a land full of ancient history and modern day intrigue. Orkney Island was first inhabited by the Picts and then the Vikings and the residents now believe that witches live among them.
Margot Wadley uses the dramatic background to debut her heroine, Isabel Garth, a young American woman who has come to the island to illustrate her deceased father's notebooks. As soon as Isabel steps off the ferry she is accosted by a beautiful young woman who warns her to leave. Andrew, a young boy she met on the ferry, proudly announces that the woman, Thora, is a witch. Isabel doesn't know what to think and as she continues her vacation she starts to feel that maybe Thora was right--maybe she is in danger. She is puzzled by the behavior of two men who seem to be following her and by the rash of accidents that are plaguing her. Then, while out sketching one day, Isabel finds Thora's body--apparently murdered.
In a dramatic climax, a life is lost, a life is saved, and the treasure at the root of all the violence disappears forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As the winner of the 2000 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery contest, Wadley's work shows promise, but a reliance on contrivance and clich suggests she's still learning the literary ropes. This debut novel's strengths include the unusual Orkney island setting and a sensitive heroine, Isabel Garth, a young American teacher who comes to Stromness to pay tribute to the memory of her late father, a native of the island, and find out what she can of his past. Straight off the ferry Isabel encounters the local "witch," Thora, who tells her: "There is danger for you here. I can feel it. Go home." After someone ransacks her hotel room, steals her drawings and tampers with her car brakes, Isabel has to wonder if she should heed Thora's warning. A buried Viking treasure (a gripping beast is a Viking art motif), a pregnancy Isabel may or may not terminate and, ultimately, Thora's murder all add to the brew of simmering menace (lines from Macbeth head each chapter). Unfortunately, while Wadley keeps the reader well attuned to her protagonist's feelings, her plotting doesn't rise much above the gothic romance level. When at the climax Isabel confronts Thora's killer, a natural disaster all too conveniently intervenes. The lack of topical references may convey a certain timelessness, but their absence also results in a story perhaps more old-fashioned than traditional. Still, there's no reason to think that Wadley can't do better next time.
