The Lady in the Loch [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998

This novel is not the typical kind of science fiction or fantasy story. I should also mention that The Lady in the Loch is not about good old Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. If you are interested in a story that has a combination of fantasy, mystery, and just the right gothic overtones, then this novel is worth picking up today for your reading pleasure. . . I believe this novel is perfect for those of you with some time to kill riding a train or an airplane, or perhaps sitting in the waiting room in a doctor's office This is a novel you won't be able to put down for even a moment. I enjoyed reading The Lady in the Loch and I hope that you will do the same.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Skillfully cross-stitching history, mystery and old-time urban legend, Scarborough (author of the Nebula-winning The Healer's War) weaves a tale set in 1880s Edinburgh. An armless skeleton that is discovered in the city's partly drained Nor Loch spurs this novel of infatuation, death and magic. Gypsy girls are disappearing into dark carriages and the noddies?bodysnatchers?are thought responsible, for fresh corpses are fetching a pretty penny from medical schools. The story follows three basic plot lines. One features Midge Margret, a gifted palm reader, who searches for the snatched girls and seeks the help of (the) Sir Walter Scott, the city's new sheriff. The second features Scott, as he mingles with the society of Edinburgh and ruminates on writing. He doesn't know how close he is to solving the case of the missing girls until the solution literally jumps out and grabs him. "Physician's notes" sprinkled throughout the text make up the third plot line, which offers a disturbing portrait of the villain behind the crimes. Much of the dialogue is told in broad Scots dialect that, though difficult to navigate, suits perfectly a world where corpses accuse their murderers, wounds bleed anew if touched by those who caused them and "corpse lights" lead the way to lost bodies. Tension mounts steadily, while the resolution is both satisfying and in keeping with the roles that magic and meaningful coincidence play in this artful work.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When local authorities discover bones in the loch near Edinburgh, new sheriff Walter Scott takes charge of an investigation that expands to include a newly arrived community of gypsies, whose fabulous stories and legends gain Scott's sympathetic ear and stimulate his writer's imagination. Combining historical mystery with dark fantasy, Scarborough (The Godmother's Apprentice, LJ 11/15/95) creates an intriguing and beguiling tale that should appeal to fans of period fiction and old-style horror. Suitable for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1st edition (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441005829
• ISBN-13: 978-0441005826
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,465,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Altogether I've written and collaborated on 38 novels, 22 solo and 16 in collaboration with the fabulous Anne McCaffrey.
Among my solo novels is THE HEALER'S WAR, the 1989 Nebula Award winner for best novel, loosely based on my experiences as a nurse in Vietnam.
I have also written a traditional, though humorous, 4-book fantasy series, SONGS FROM THE SEASHELL ARCHIVES, a feminist Arabian Nights fantasy, two fantasies set in the Wild West and the Yukon Goldrush respectively, my obligatory science fiction writer's apocalypse book and the sequel, both set in Tibet, and three books about folk music and magic that made a big hit with the Library of Congress Folk Music Archives, which I blew up in the first book. Three of my books are about fairy godmothers, one is about Christmas and computers, one features Sir Walter Scott in a Victorian gothic mystery set in Edinburgh, and two are about Queen Cleopatra as the living "Past life" of two different women.
Just last week I released for the first time anywhere, a new e-book (available soon as Print on Demand as well), SPAM VS THE VAMPIRE. Spam is a cat whose mistress disappears suddenly, leaving him and his 14 feline housemates alone and soon to starve. When someone breaks into the house, Spam takes the opportunity to escape into the outside world, where he's actually never been before, to hunt for his human, or at least some other human to feed and care for him and his friends until their friend Darcy comes back. The more he hunts, the more he becomes sure that she is not going to be coming back on her own.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Madness, ghosts and kidnappers, July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lady in the Loch (Hardcover)

Sir Walter Scott is a real person from history whose own story and writings make fascinating reading. In Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's book "The Lady In the Loch" she shows you a side of Scott when he was first starting out in a policital appointment, and before he was sucessful in his writing. In this book though, there is the hint of supernatural behind the ordinary. Granted, the book starts out with the victim of a murder announcing the name of her killer, and you have body snatchers who cant wait for someone to die, a person driven mad by obsession and love, and a city in the midst of growth and change. All this, and more.

I found this book to be an entertaining read because it dealt with a transitional period, when the belief in magic as an everyday occurance was being replaced with science and fact. The Travellers as a people are normally the ones picked as the evil-doers, but in this book are the victims, because they don't fit in with the cityfolk and no one cares what happens to a few of them. Its not a book about good verses evil, but a modern fable of what happens when someone takes notice of evil being done and does something about it, because that is what people should do.

I would like to see more of Scarborough's Scott and his world, before all the magic gets lost.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from a top-notch author!, August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lady in the Loch (Hardcover)

One of the things that fascinates me most about Ms. Scarborough's books -- I've read quite a few of them -- is that they are all so different, yet all so wonderful! No matter what setting or time period or style of she writes, her deft touch, thorough research, compassion for the underdog in whatever social setting, and sense of humor come through. Because I am very interested in Scotland, and especially in the time period of this book and before, when magic still was acknowledged in the "real" world, this book really grabbed me. Scarborough's multilayered writing creates a lush, tangible world for the reader to lose himself in -- it was hard to drag myself away from Scott and Scotland to come back to my time and place! In addition to a crackin' good mystery, the information about the daily life was delightful -- and I really like Walter as a person. I hope the sequel(S) will be out soon!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun ghostly mystery story!, July 21, 1999

By 

J. Might (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lady in the Loch (Hardcover)

Well, I for one enjoyed this book. It not only was my introduction to Walter Scott but to some of the history of Scotland. I found the Scottish brogue an absolute thrill to read and it really helped to take me to Edinborough. I was pleased to meet not only the gentleman sleuth (Walter Scott) but also the brave, strong and witty Midge Margaret. I enjoyed each new twist pulled into the plot and found that Ms. Scarborough somehow wonderfully managed to write of such horrid and frightening happenings in a suspenseful yet tasteful way instead of concentrating on blood and gore. This book left me wanting to learn more about Walter Scott, Scotland AND the many mysteries touched on within this book. Any book that spurs me on to read deeper into its subjects is a good book indeed!