Scotland, My Muse; a guest post by Lacey Dearie

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Lets think of some of the Jungle Red Writers' favorite things. Mysteries. Cats. Writing. Scotland. Twitter. What do they have in common? They all meet together in today's guest, Scottish author Lacey Dearie. When we were approaching our 8000th Twitter follower, we decided to mark the occasion with something special. The tweep who turned our odometer over to 8000 would get a special appearance on the blog. Imagine our pleasure when we found out the winner was a smart, funny indie author from the UK.


So that covers the writing, Scotland and Twitter portion. What about cats and mysteries? Let me quote you the back copy of Lacey's latest novellette, LEGER: CAT SLEUTH:

Leger has a comfortable life. He sleeps, chases tabbies and plays with Bob, his Labrador room-mate, when nobody is watching. His life with elderly couple Annabella and Hugh is enviable, but he craves excitement and a creative outlet. However, when Hugh is attacked, the purpose in life he sought presents itself. He turns detective in a bid to solve the mystery of who mugged Hugh. Will he succeed? Will anyone take him seriously as a sleuth? Will his artistic flair help in his quest to find the culprit? Can he stay away from the catnip long enough to focus on the job in hand?

Lacey's been cutting her teeth on indie publishing for a little over a year now. Her first novel, THE TANGLED WEB, reached the number 1 spot on the Amazon UK Free Download list and was in the top 100 Bestselling downloads, as well. Her short story BAKED (the love story of a doughnut and an eclair!) hit number 1 on the French and German short story charts.

However, Lacey's not going to talk to us today about bestselling charts or talking Glaswegian cat detectives or even her upcoming second novel. She's here to talk about what makes her heart sing.

Firstly I want to thank Jungle Red Writers for hosting this guest post.  I’m a huge fan of this blog and I am thrilled to be a guest today.

Firth of Clyde

Every story I’ve ever written until now has been set in Scotland.  This could be attributed to the fact that I am Scottish.  I was born and raised here and as an amateur genealogist I’ve traced my ancestry back over three hundred years.  Despite my family tree being peppered with Irish surnames here and there, every one of my ancestors, as far as I can trace, was Scottish.

Forth Road Bridge, Edinburgh

I grew up in a rural community and have lived all my life in tiny villages.  I can never imagine anywhere else inspiring me more than this part of the world because there’s so much more to this country than castles, whisky and haggis.  Even though it rains ninety per cent of the time (that’s not a genuine statistic, it’s just how it feels) it still can’t kill the romance and mystique of the countryside.

Of course, we have our problems like everywhere else in the world.  There’s a recession to recover from, rising unemployment and social issues such as knife crime and drug abuse.  It’s no different to anywhere else in that respect.  We also have a referendum on independence next year that will divide opinion and shape the future of Scotland and will have a significant impact on the rest of the UK if we gain independence.

Ayrshire coast

When I meet foreigners on vacation or online, they express a genuine affection for this country that is so touching.  It feels like everyone either knows a Scot or has some Scottish ancestry, and if they don’t, they will say something sweet like they loved Braveheart.  Of course I don’t tell them that the movie was made in Ireland and was historically inaccurate.  That would just kill the mood. 

Loch Lomond on a winter's day

It’s not that I’m so inspired by Scotland because it’s my homeland.  There is so much more to it than that.  I love it because each town and city has its own unique personality. 

Edinburgh

Glasgow is the kind of city where you can get on a bus, make a friend and five minutes later when you reach your stop you have a friend for life and could easily write their autobiography.  It’s a shopping Mecca and a few hours there would show you what modern Scotland is really like. 

Dean Castle, Kilmarnock

Edinburgh, although kitsch and touristy in some respects, has a festival every summer that attracts thousands of artists, writers, actors, comedians and a wealth of other performers from all around the world.  If that doesn’t sell you on the place, listen to this: There is a castle on a cliff in the middle of the city.  I dare you to resist its charm!

Even my nearest town, Kilmarnock, is fascinating, if a little rough around the edges.  It is the apparent birthplace of freedom fighter, William Wallace and Robert Burns’ first book of poems was published in Kilmarnock.  It was recently named as the most creative town in Scotland.  That’s no surprise to me but since it has a reputation for being a particularly underprivileged town, it was unexpected for many people.

Dunfrys Village Festival 2013

Scotland has been a muse to countless writers and artists over the years and I always seek out books and short stories written by foreigners that are set here, for curiosity’s sake.  I love to hear how people view Scotland.  Do they arrive in Glasgow Airport and see pictures of cows on the walls then conclude that we are eccentric?  Do they get lost in the romanticism of the castles and fall in love while here?  Are visitors bewitched by the mysterious and atmospheric backdrop of the Highlands? 

I’d love to hear what readers of this blog think of when they picture Scotland!

Speaking of 'picture', all the gorgeous photos in this post were taken by Lacey Dearie or her husband, Alex Milligan. Lacey has 2 signed copies of LEGER: CAT SLEUTH to give away to commenters!

You can find out more about Lacey and her books at her blog. You can also friend her on  Facebook, follow her on Twitter as @LaceyDearie, swap book suggestions on   Goodreads and see even more photographs on  Pinterest.

ANNA LEE HUBER: BURKE AND HARE--THE REAL BODY SNATCHERS

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Now, what could be more fun with Halloween coming up than real ghouls? Anna Lee Huber is here to tell us about Burke and Hare, the infamous Edinburgh body snatchers. When I lived in Edinburgh, I could never walk through the Old Town without a little shiver at the thought of those two.

Anna Lee Huber knows whereof she speaks--her debut novel, The Anatomist's Wife, the first in the Lady Darby historical mystery series, is set in Scotland in 1830. 

Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister's estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes. Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage-a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn't about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl. When Kiera and Gage's search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim...

And now Anna will tell us about the real-life villiains...

When people hear the words “body snatcher,” they instantly respond with fear and disgust. They picture shifty, ghoulish characters digging in a cemetery on a moonless night, robbing someone’s loved ones of their eternal peace, and their belongings.  But what they don’t often understand is why body-snatching became so prevalent and necessary in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Prior to the passage of the Anatomy Act of 1832, British medical schools had difficulty procuring cadavers for their anatomy classes, because only the bodies of executed criminals could be used for this purpose, which amounted to only about two to three bodies annually per school.  In the 1700s there had been hundreds of convicts executed each year for often trivial crimes, but late in the century, changes in the laws, and the introduction of the sentence of transportation, shrank that number to just over fifty.  More medical schools and private anatomical schools were being established each day, and without fresh corpses they couldn’t give their students the hands-on experience they needed.  Not to mention the hindrance this was to serious anatomists trying to better understand the human body and the way diseases affected it. 

Thus began the widespread practice of body snatching, where recently buried bodies were stolen from their graves and sold to medical schools and anatomists for their use.  It was a lucrative trade, and these resurrectionists, as they were called, became very good at it, often disturbing the grave sights so little that relatives couldn’t tell their loved ones had been taken.  Until the coffin was checked.  The body snatchers were even careful not to steal valuables or clothes from the graves they robbed because the charge of stealing a corpse was only a misdemeanor, with a fairly light punishment, while theft of property was a felony.  Anatomists and medical schools knew fully well where these bodies were coming from, but chose to look the other way for the sake of education and medical advancement.

Meanwhile, the public was horrified by the practice.  Relatives often set up watches over their loved ones’ graves to make sure their final resting places were not violated while the body was still fresh enough to interest resurrectionists.  They began using iron coffins, and mortsafes—a framework of iron bars erected over a grave to deter body snatchers.  The cemeteries near the medical schools in London and Edinburgh increased their own security measures, hiring night watchmen to patrol the grounds and stand guard in watchtowers built specifically for that purpose. 

The practice of body snatching was so common that in 1831 one gang of grave robbers confessed to stealing as many as 1000 bodies over twelve years.  Anatomists paid approximately 8-10 guineas per corpse, depending on how fresh the body was and whether it had any interesting abnormalities.  It was such a profitable trade, that enterprising criminals soon sought to take advantage of it, the most famous of whom were Burke and Hare, two laborers in Edinburgh. 

Rather than risk being caught while performing the difficult labor of disinterring bodies from the heavily guarded local cemeteries, they began inviting victims to their lodging house, plying them with alcohol, and smothering them to death.  They then sold the bodies to the Surgeons’ Hall at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, namely to well-known anatomist and lecturer Dr. Robert Knox.  Burke and Hare were caught in November of 1828, but not before they murdered sixteen people.  The case lacked sufficient evidence, so Hare was convinced to testify against his partner, and escaped prosecution.  Burke was hanged on January 28, 1829, and afterward his body was transported to the University of Edinburgh to be publicly dissected.  His death mask, skeleton, and several articles made from his tanned skin, including a book cover, are on display at the university’s Surgeons’ Hall Museum.  Dr. Knox escaped prosecution, but public opinion turned sharply against him for his part in providing incentive for the murders. 

After the trial of Burke and Hare, citizens in London and Edinburgh were panicked by the idea that similar enterprising criminals might be at work, murdering hapless citizens and selling their bodies to anatomists and medical schools.  Medical schools were forced to pay closer attention to where their bodies were procured, and legislation reform became a necessity.

Do you think the anatomists and medical schools quest for better medical treatment and scientific understanding justified the resurrectionists’ actions?  Or should they have been held more accountable?

Anna Lee Huber was born and raised in a small town in Ohio.  She is a graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN, where she majored in Music and minored in Psychology.  The Anatomist's Wife has been hailed as “…a riveting debut…” and will be released by Berkley Publishing on November 6^th, 2012.  She currently lives in Indiana with her husband and troublemaking tabby cat.  When not hard at work on her next novel, she enjoys reading, singing, travel, and spending time with her family. Visit her website at www.annaleehuber.com

Or find her on Facebook at: AnnaLeeHuber

Or Twitter at AnnaLeeHuber

 Images:

·         Calton Cemetery: A view over the wall into Calton Cemetery in Edinburgh – notice the watchtower

·         Lawnmarket at night: A view down Lawnmarket from Castle Hill at night

·         Old Town Edinburgh: A view of Old Town from New Town

·    Surgeons Hall: 19^th century drawing of the Surgeons’ Hall at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

  .  St Giles Cathedral: St Giles Cathedral, at one end of the historical Lawnmarket, where Burke was executed

 Anna Lee will be giving away a copy of The Anatomist's Wife to one of our lucky commenters, so be sure to come back on Friday when I'll announce the winner!