{"product_id":"9781835010129","title":"The Beasts of the Black Loch : Nothing stays buried in the Highlands... the first in a series of atmospheric Seventies-set murder mysteries","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Gay Marris\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eCrime \u0026amp; mystery\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 12 March 2026 by Bedford Square Publishers in the United Kingdom as part of 'the A Natural History of Murder' series.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardback | 368 pages\u003cbr\u003e224 x 146 x 35 | 472g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 50,000 acres of remote Scottish mountains and moor sits Dorcha Hall: a former hunting lodge nestling amongst ancient forests, on the shores of the enigmatic ‘Black Loch’. At night, lights glow from within, smoke curls from its chimneys, and in the forgiving murk of the gloaming, it looks magical. In daylight, its mouldering plasterwork and failing plumbing present a less romantic reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDr Ava Dickens has come to Dorcha to visit her godson, Alastair – a young man whose parents’ sudden death has taken him from a quiet life in academia to owning Loch Dorcha. He and his very new wife are convinced the only way to make the estate work is to run the Hall as a hotel. But Ava is a rigorous scientist, her specialty animal behaviour, and she is by no means certain that the evidence is indicative of a successful outcome.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen one of the hotel guests is found dead in his bed, having gulped down poisonous insect repellant rather than the whisky sitting next to it, Ava’s knowledge of the female Culicoides impunctatus – aka the Highland midge – leads her to doubt that it was an accident. And worse is to come…\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Far From The Madding Crowd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48469374992643,"sku":"9781835010129","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0404\/3207\/4914\/files\/9781835010129.jpg?v=1782304713","url":"https:\/\/www.maddingcrowdlinlithgow.com\/products\/9781835010129","provider":"Far From The Madding Crowd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}