With 'The First Blast of the Trumpet' Marie Macpherson leads us on a rollicking romp through Scottish history. The book is set in Edinburgh and the Lothians (with short excursions to France and England) between the years 1511 and 1548; a very tumultuous time for Scotland. The book is a giddy roller coaster ride with murder and mayhem, treachery and torture, infanticide and regicide galore. The descriptive passages are extremely well written; you can smell sweet new mown hay, imagine the blood of dead soldiers on Flodden Fields and, at times, the blast of cold air sends a shiver down your spine.

The plot fair gallops along with old characters being killed off at an alarming rate but constantly being replaced with new and fresh ones. At times I for one was actually in those damp, dreich, pungent castles with spies and murderers watching my every step. I reached the end of the novel with a palpable sense of relief at still being alive. The author really does bring this whole world to life in a real and tangible way.

I also feel that the complicated situations, relationships and characters were brought to the page in an assured and straightforward way particularly the handling of the convoluted and self-serving politics of Jacobian Scotland which did not seem too complex to be understood. After a while, I found the constant use of coothy, auld Scots words and phrases a bit tiresome. I am old enough to know the meaning of most of them but younger or English readers may find a glossary a useful addition.

That said, maybe I am just a blethering, auld besom havering in my glaur! This is a book worth buying in paper form so you can get the benefit of the family trees and map which were all but invisible on my kindle.

With this first installment, Marie Macpherson has led us on an exciting journey through Scotland's murky past. I cannot wait to read the next.

Review By Sam Bain on behalf of https://lovebooksgroupblog.wordpress.com/