‘Death in a Scottish Tower’ by Lydia Travers

Published by Bookouture,
16 March 2026.
ISBN: 978: 1-80550133-6 (PB)

The third novel in the Lady Poppy Proudfoot series is set mainly in Glasgow in 1924. ‘My lady’, as she is addressed by more or less everyone in the story, is visiting Glasgow University, her alma mater, as she has established a scholarship there to encourage women to study law at a time when this was far from common and not encouraged by the male-dominated academic world. This state of affairs is to have repercussions in the story. During the visit a champagne reception is abandoned when a female student plunges to her death from the university tower. Having been told shortly before the incident that another female student had died in similar circumstances 18 years previously, Lady Poppy is immediately suspicious. Were the deaths suicide or were both women pushed? Before long she is again in cahoots with the handsome Inspector MacKenzie. Her hopes that this liaison will lead to more than a successful investigation is one of the many threads in the novel. 

As the pair look into the cases, clues begin to emerge. There is a threatening note referring to the first death, and then a replica dress is deliberately left close to the tower. Suspects start to appear. Malcolm Kennedy, a university porter who had a brief period as a student at the time of the first death and has a history of alcohol-fuelled violence, is one possibility. Another is the ghastly Professor Lorimer, a pompous man who does not approve of the education of women (‘Women shouldn’t be educated’, he observes at one point, ‘it muddles their brains.’). His equally unpleasant wife shares his views. It seems to be a loveless marriage. A self-absorbed male poet friend of one of the students is a further dodgy character. 

The plot is thickened by the fact that two groups of students at the times of both deaths style themselves the Four Marys, the ones 18 years previously because their first names were Mary and the current group because their middle names are Mary. As students studying the past, they owe their group names to the original Four Marys, the ladies-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots. It is no surprise, then, that events lead Lady Poppy and Inspector MacKenzie to Lochleven Castle where that monarch had been imprisoned in the 16^th century. A crucifix is involved, as is a tramp who spends the summer on the island where the castle is situated. Two more student deaths, neither of which are at the tower and both of which are clearly murders, makes it even more important that the perpetrator is found quickly. 

The villain is known some time before the end of the novel. It is then a matter of how to ensure that self-incrimination takes place. In this Lady Poppy is assisted by Inspector Mackenzie. There is a physical struggle at the end, but this diverting story fits firmly into the cosy crime genre. Lady Poppy is an enthusiastic maker of notes as the investigation proceeds. A number of characters other than Inspector MacKenzie enliven the novel. Lady Poppy has her long-suffering and slightly disapproving maid Elspeth in tow as well as her well-behaved and biddable Labrador Major Lewis. In Glasgow she stays with her equally well-heeled friend Lady Molly Darling. 

The big question is, of course, whether Lady Poppy will achieve her designs on Inspector MacKenzie. She succeeds in spending an unexpected and distinctly unromantic night with him, but the end of the novel suggests that she is getting closer to her aim. There is doubtless more to come!
---------
Reviewer: David Whittle

Lydia Travers writes historical cosy crimes; and historical romances under the name Linda Tyler. She is an award-winning author. Born in London, she moved progressively north until settling with her husband in a village on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. She has kept chickens, bred dogs and raised children. A former legal academic and practitioner, she runs self-catering holiday accommodation, sings in a local choir and is walked daily by her dog. She loves to read reviews from readers who have enjoyed her novels. Lydia is a member of the Crime Writers Association.

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then.