The Laird of Castle Ballantine

It is 1964, Leonard McFadden - a brash young cockney reporter for a national newspaper is dispatched by his editor to the Scottish Borders, to follow up on the strange case of Doctor James Parker. Along with a party of other journalists he attends a midnight vigil in a rain-sodden churchyard by the River Tweed. Returning to the graveside in the early morning sunlight, he staggers and leans on a tombstone for support and there stumbles onto a mystery that will change his life forever. Unbeknown to him – the storm clouds of fate are gathering; dark forces, already contriving to play havoc with his future. An enigmatic churchman asks his name and upon hearing it, remarks how Scotsmen from all over the world, often return to their place of birth, just as salmon return home, to spawn and die. Leonard humorously replies that he is not yet ready to spawn and die, but these and many more questions go tumbling through his brain as he ponders on life’s mysteries. Is he really who he thinks he is? Growing up in wartime Britain and with a surname like McFadden, is it possible he could have Scottish ancestry?Feeling a chill coming on, and inwardly reflecting that the Scottish Borders, for all its seductive beauty, may well be the death of him, the reporter is unaware that the cold hand of death may be lurking nearby…

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