Death on a Shetland Longship
Death on a Shetland Longship (Death on a Longship)
When she wangles the job of skippering a Viking longship for a film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, which she ran away from as a teenager. Then the ‘accidents’ begin - and when a dead woman turns up on the boat’s deck, Cass realises that she, her family and her past are under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae. Cass must call on all her local knowledge, the wisdom she didn’t realise she’d gained from sailing and her glamorous, French opera singer mother to clear them all of suspicion - and to catch the killer before Cass becomes the next victim.
Praise for Death on a Shetland Longship (Death on a Longship)
“...You cannot go wrong with this delight of mystery! ... I love it when authors keep things current and relevant to today's issues as well as presenting us with a mystery to solve.”
— Mysteries etc
Coming through Yell Sound to get to the west of Shetland.
The black cliffs of Eshaness which Cass and Anders pass in the final stage of their journey to Shetland.
I based Cass’s Viking ship, Stormfugl, on a real boat, the Skibladner, which was abandoned here in Shetland until the Amenity trust bought her. She’s now part of the Viking Unst exhibition at Haraldswick.
The Vementry guns from at sea. They were put on Vementry Isle in WWI to guard the fleet anchored in St Magnus Bay.
This bay is the South Hams, where Cass sails her longship for her big filming episode. The house the rock falls from is just visible on the hill to the left.
Busta House has a romantic and tragic history. It’s the oldest still-inhabited house in Shetland, dating back to before 1600. It’s now a very popular hotel and restaurant.
The cliffs of Muckle Roe, the “big red island” shining in the summer sun.
Delting boating club
Author Comment
I’d written a series of three novels, also set in Shetland, which just weren’t finding a publisher. ‘Too cosy,’ my agent thought. ‘Try a darker heroine.’ I tried, and came up with Cass, a hand-to-mouth loner with a death in her past. A reader once described her as like ‘a little sister who will not take good advice’ and I love that description – that’s just how I feel about her!