I guess in some ways we haven’t come that far, you still hear people saying ‘he looked dodgy.’ Maybe we are hard wired to judge by appearance. The so called experts of a view that there was a ‘criminal class’ you could spot by their physical attributes. The court scene has discussions that brought to mind the old skulls you can find in museums when they studied phrenology as a science. I love an underdog so it really broke my heart. It will make you glad you’re alive now and not in the time or place of the events at the heart of the book. Lachlan Mackenzie aka Lachlan Broad – not a nice chap, but did he deserve what he got?Ĭonclusion: The ‘story’ is funny, heart breaking and educational. Roderick’s father John Macrae – recently widowed, hard man of the hills, struggling to keep afloat OR is it totally fiction, all made up in Mr Macrae’s imagination? I’m still not sure!Ĭharacters: Roderick Macrae – a descendant of the author, a grieving son of a, now deceased, loving mother Una If I can uncover a long lost relative like Roddy and put together a compulsive and heart wrending story around the facts as Graeme has I’ll be thrilled. You must read the whole book, don’t do what I confess I often do, which is to skip the preface. Brutal moments, hidden undercurrents and stubborn survival instincts all described simply and in deserved prize-winning ways. Isn’t all fact just one person’s version of events? History is after all, HIS STORY, yes some feminists did want to change the word.Ī small town murder occurs, in true ‘TV detective Columbo’ style you know who did it, but you are still drawn into the tale. It’s brilliant and I’m guessing it’s fiction compiled around fact. Plot (or subject if non fiction): This aspect is confusing. Was he mad? Only the persuasive powers of his advocate stand between Macrae and the gallows. A memoir written by the accused makes it clear that he is guilty, but it falls to the country’s finest legal and psychiatric minds to uncover what drove him to commit such merciless acts of violence.

A brutal triple murder in a remote community in the Scottish Highlands leads to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae. Book Review – His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnetīlurb: The year is 1869.

His bloody project review