Loch Down Abbey – Beth Cowan-Erksine

I picked Loch Down Abbey from NetGalley (thank you, NetGalley) as an advanced copy without any knowledge of Beth Cowan-Erksine as an author. As I read through the book, I found that Cowan-Erksine’s writing style was totally enchanting, but the plot a little transparent. I did enjoy Loch Down Abbey as a quirky and amusing novel. 

The Inverkillens are a unique family, to say the least. The matriarch, her sons, grandchildren, and their wives and children all currently reside in Loch Down Abbey, the Inverkillen family home. Nobody can figure out what they do all day or how they amuse themselves, aside from running the servants off their feet. When Lord Inverkillen is found dead in the weir, and the local inspector seems incapable of finding out what really happened, the family dissolves into chaos over inheritances – or lack thereof. Housekeeper Mrs. McBain is the only one who sees something suspicious about the Lord’s death, and takes up the cause of investigation. 

While this novel is technically classified as a mystery, I would honestly consider it more of a general work of fiction. I thought the Inverkillens were hilarious, and I was highly amused reading about them; this novel would have made an excellent book without death involved at all. Cowan-Erksine does a delightful job of third-person omniscient narration, and switches between perspectives of all of the characters flawlessly. The smooth transitions between thought processes are part of what make the book so entertaining, as all of the characters are so different and constantly warring with each other. 

This novel had a lot of entertainment value and was written very well, but I wouldn’t say it had the greatest plot of all time. It was very light on the mystery (30-40% of the book actually spent on the mystery, I’d guess), and could have been more subtle about the coronavirus pandemic and the author’s utter disdain for the “ruling” class. As things get worse and worse for the Inverkillen clan, a mysterious disease sweeps the nation, killing many people, shorting out supplies, and requiring the servants to wear masks and gloves. By the time we got to the masks, gloves, and lack of toilet paper, I was rolling my eyes a bit because it was just too obvious. However, it did keep the family looking the worse they possibly could.

The Inverkillen clan are not nice people. I don’t know who they’re supposed to represent in real life (just the rich in general or maybe a specific set of the aristocracy), but based on these characters and their endings I would infer that Cowan-Erksine has a beef with either money or titles, and thinks that someone who has either or both is naturally a cruel and selfish person. I don’t think it was a coincidence that all but the “good” people in the family had a fairly unhappy ending. Mrs. McBain’s ending also didn’t surprise me, but I found it hard to believe – I’ll let you read for yourself, but I will hint that it seems she got what she deserved and the family got what they deserved. I just wasn’t a fan of this whole political discourse as I’d rather read about some weird, quirky, unusual family and not a poorly disguised social commentary. 

The social commentary piece only really started to get at me towards the end of the novel, so I wasn’t too bothered throughout the whole book. It certainly wouldn’t stop me from reading another one of Cowan-Erksine’s novels as I found her writing style amusing and very humorous.