Fire, Water, Earth - The lowdown on the Marna Mystery Series
I often get asked how the Marna Mystery Series started and I usually answer, 'ask Kathleen' (the 'K' of B K Bryce) as it was originally my sister's idea, but since lockdown she has not been able to travel up to Orkney as she would like, so instead I shall give an A-Z reply - archaeological zoology.
Joking apart, when Kathleen first came up with the idea of writing a Neolithic Whodunit I thought it was one of her mad ideas which she would soon forget about, however it turned out she was serious.
'Fine,' I answered, 'As long as you do the research.'
I was pretty confident this would put her off, but no. My sister had studied history at university and although had not pursued a career in that direction, she was determined to come up with the information needed. Since Quoyloo is a giant's stone throw from Skara Brae it seemed a good idea to set the books there. While Kathleen began learning about fire making, felting, brewing ale from bread and other aspects of Neolithic life, I began getting to know my characters.
Being outgoing, Marna, the protagonist and Stone Age detective, introduced herself to me fairly quickly, but some characters took a little longer to develop. Her mother refused to be called anything but 'Marna's mother' as she didn't feel we were well enough acquainted to be on first name terms.
Maeshowe Murders was launched in the spring of 2017 and I thought that would be that however the characters had come to life and a follow on book Evil in Eynhallow was published in 2018. I wanted a setting few people knew much about, large enough to sustain a small community, but small enough to travel round in a day. This allowed for the story to develop, while concentrating on the domestic lives of the people in the Neolithic. I had more fun writing the story as I knew what the characters wanted. In the case of the head priest Patro, he wanted a bigger role, which led to the third book - Horror on Hoy.
Once you start writing about Orkney it is hard to ignore Hoy. Marna had moved to live at the Ness of Brodgar as, with the amazing discoveries there, Kathleen was keen to include the settlement in the books. She would have seen Hoy on a daily basis and it seemed natural to have her visit. I found Horror on Hoy the most challenging to write, but it has the most archaeological detail, for example the lighting and furnishings in the Ness as well as Stone Age hot water bathing, pottery making and tanning.
Which brings us to the archaeological zoology. Cattle bones were plentiful and the find of dog bones at Cuween has been well documented. Whales and seals also seem to have been in good supply, but few horse or pony bones have been found for the period. The latter being awkward when the head priest demands a horse. We came up with the answer of making him enjoy travelling and finding out about communities wider afield. In Horror on Hoy he journeys to Stonehenge.
We have given talks on our books from Wigtown to Shapinsay, via Edinburgh, Auchterardar and various places in between. It has been an amazing experience, but in 2019 we came to the decision that Horror on Hoy would be the final book and held an official 'celebratory event' in Kirkwall library, more as a farewell than a launch for the third book.
Thank you to everybody who turned up and for everyone who has read the books and given lovely comments.
Somebody did point out that Maeshowe Murders deals with fire, Evil in Eynhallow with water and Horror on Hoy with stone, with the question 'what about air?'
Let us say that while there are no current plans for a fourth book, the answer is up there somewhere...
Though far from sad to say farewell to Simple I remain hopeful that a further tale will be produced. Go Marna!
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