An entraining crime novel with humour, sorrow, determination, and even a little ghostly companionship peppering the pages. When the new owners of a distillery in Scotland determine to hide the fact that they have just found two dead bodies in their whisky barrels, their relationship takes a decided turn for the worse. The author Natalie Jayne Clark shares knowledge of the murders during the 1970’s with the reader, allowing you to stay one step ahead of the main story from the 2020’s, and the additional information actually adds to the way the plot unfolds. Neurodiversity flows through this tale, one character has ADHD which is specifically mentioned within the first couple of pages, but otherwise exists without labels. Each character is an individual, their diversity, behaviours and emotions forming part of who they are, and each is essential to the novel. The distillery almost becomes a character in its own right, hiding murder and clues, and becoming a central point for the community. While humour exists, there are sections where emotional turmoil bubbles and boils, yet nothing derails the search for answers! The Malt Whisky Murders is a captivating tale where a love of whisky sits very nicely alongside an amateur investigating murder.
When a dilapidated distillery comes up for sale in rural Kintyre, Eilidh and her wife Morag jump at the chance. But their ambition to run the first women-owned whisky distillery in Scotland seems to be scuppered when a grisly, decades-old secret is revealed: two dead bodies have been stuffed into barrels, perfectly preserved in single malt.
To add to their woes, a TV crew has just arrived and the townsfolk will not leave them alone. Eilidh becomes obsessed with solving the murders while juggling whisky tastings, ceilidhs, protests and scandals – everything you’d expect from a wee Scottish town imprisoned by its own geography. And no matter how hard you try, the locals will always find out your secrets.
Natalie Jayne Clark is a neurodivergent writer, editor and producer based in Perth. Natalie writes for SNACK Magazine, is the Assistant Producer for StAnza Poetry Festival, and works across the arts and culture industry in a variety of roles. Her poetry can be found in anthologies from Flapjack Press, Speculative Books, and Open Book, and she has won several poetry slams. She is also a certified whisky ambassador and is partial to a Springbank or a Bruichladdich.
