His Bloody Project

Burnet, Graeme Macrae. His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae. New York: Skyhorse. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

I am writing this at the behest of my advocate, Mr Andrew Sinclair, who since my incarceration here in Inverness has treated me with a degree of civility I in no way deserve.

My life has been short and of little consequence, and I have no wish to absolve myself of responsibility for the deeds which I have lately committed. It is thus for no other reason than to repay my advocate's kindness towards me that I commit these words to paper. 

Description:

Author Graeme Macrae Burnet, while researching his own family history in Scotland, discovered references to a triple murder in 1869 in the small town of Culduie. What's interesting was that accounts reveal the crime was committed by Rodrick Macrae, a 17-year-old boy who shares the name "Macrae" with Burnet. 

Using obscure documents about the case, Burnet compiles a convincing re-telling of the unusual crime in his stunning new historical novel, His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae. Carefully woven into the narrative of the book are actual police reports, neighbor character references about Macrae, trial notes, findings from "criminal anthropologists," and even a lengthy memoir and confession written by Rodrick himself while in jail, explaining the events leading up to his crime. 

From the first pages, there is little doubt that Rodrick Macrae killed the victims. In fact, witness interviews showed he was seen with the murder weapons, never resisted arrest, freely admitted to his crime, and then sat patiently in his cell awaiting trial and probable execution. 

What drives the book forward is the interesting documents that serve to unravel the causes that made an intelligent young man coldly commit a brutal murder and then not even try to escape the consequences. Little by little, as events and personalities unfold, readers must draw their own conclusions about the conditions surrounding these murders, the motivations of local people, the guilt of Rodrick, and even the validity of the documentation. 

Exquisitely told in a variety of voices, His Bloody Project (the title of the dime novel version of these events), immediately plunges readers into the world of 19th century Scotland, of relationships, murder, power, and the poverty of people trying to eke out a living as tenant farmers. This book was a finalist for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 2016 for very good reasons. A wonderful story cleverly presented. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

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