DI Callum MacLean

A big thank you to those of you who have got hold of a copy of Murder in the New Forest and are, I hope, enjoying reading it.

It was fun to research – research which involved many hostelries, teashops and muddy boots.

Murder in the New Forest is the first in a series of investigations with DI Callum MacLean in the driving seat, and I thought you might like to know a little more about him.

As you know, he comes from Glasgow and until recently lived in a flat in Kelvinside. This was a happy place for him whilst his wife, Grace, was alive, and he has very fond memories of the times they shared there. After her unexpected death it became an uninviting and lonely place in which to spend time. Even the scent of her perfume evaporated, one of the last reminders of her presence.

Callum found it difficult to see a way forward and felt overwhelmed by the concerns of his parents, and his three strong-minded older sisters, Dolina, Freya, and Shona. Friends and colleagues encouraged him to get out there and meet someone else and have some fun. Callum realised that he had to fall in with their plans or develop one of his own.

As a young lad he had spent some idyllic summer breaks on his paternal grandparent’s croft on Seil Island on the west coast of Scotland. He had loved the views, the openness, the freshness of the air and the way the wild Atlantic beat against the land. He developed a strong connection with his grandfather, a tall and largely silent man who went about his business in a confident and fair-minded manner. His grandmother, a busy, cheerful woman spoke enough for both of them.

In the evenings Callum and his grandfather would sit either side of the peat fire whilst his grandmother busied herself in the kitchen, or visiting her neighbours. The old man, sucking air through his empty pipe stem, would commit the happenings of his day to a sketch. He had encouraged the young Callum to do the same, and it was a habit that stayed with him for life.

Tall, straight-backed with shoulder-length dark hair, Callum was never going to be inconspicuous in any crowd – if you discounted the opportunity to be an extra in a Braveheart film. His decision to move south, to continue his career where he was not consistently under well-meaning scrutiny was, he felt, his best opportunity for a fresh start. He accepted his post in the New Forest with both anticipation and a certain amount of trepidation. He had not adequately considered his fear of horses. He was surprised and disquieted to find herds of wild New Forest ponies ambling along the lanes, standing on roadways and grazing the open heaths and grass verges. He also found that unless measures were taken to bar them, they entered gardens and ate everything green. Evicting them was a difficult task for him as the ponies seemed to know that he was frightened of them.

Another thing that Callum had not anticipated was sharp interest of his perceptive colleague Detective Sergeant Daisy Donaldson.

But more about Daisy next time…