Graveyards with Catriona McPherson

by Posted on

Edith/Maddie writing from a wintry north of Boston.

But it’s never too cold to welcome back the delightful and brilliant Catriona McPherson, especially when she has a new book out – today!

Scotzilla is the seventh Last Ditch mystery, and if you haven’t already picked up this series, you should. It’s one of my favorites. Here’s the blurb:

Lexy Campbell is getting married! But in the six months of planning it took to arrive at the big day, she has become . . . a challenge. Friendships are strained to breaking point, Lexy’s parents are tiptoeing around her, and even Taylor, her intended, must be having second thoughts. Turns out it’s moot. Before the happy couple can exchange vows, Sister Sunshine, the wedding celebrant, is discovered dead behind the cake, strangled with the fairy lights.

Lexy’s dream wedding is now not just a nightmare: it’s a crime scene. She vows not to get drawn into the case, but the rest of the Last Ditch crew are investigating a bizarre series of goings-on in Cuento’s cemetery and every clue about the graveyard pranks seems to link them back to Lexy’s wedding day. Will the Ditchers solve the case? Will Sister Sunshine’s killer be found? Will Lexy ever get her happy-ever-after? Not even Bridezilla deserves this. 

No Bone to Pick with Graveyards

So wrote Samuel Beckett, in 1946. He went on “I take the air there willingly, when take the air I must.” Doesn’t sound like him, does it? Well, it got dark right after that and sounded exactly like him in the end. So let’s leave it there. I genuinely have no bone to pick with graveyards. I like a good cemetery for taking the air in.

That’s why I enjoyed writing the four cemetery geeks in Scotzilla so much, even though their enthusiasm for the fictional necropolis of fictional Cuento, CA, is a bit too keen at times. There’s nothing horrible in the book, I hasten to add: they’re just a bit unhinged in their devotion to the social and cultural history of graves. They wouldn’t approve of me at all, the way I think cemeteries are just pleasant places for a stroll.

It started with my Granny MacDonald. She loved a cemetery walk. In her case, I think it arose in nosiness. She lived in the same smallish town for a lot of years and, even if she never got past the front door of someone’s house, once they died she could make her own judgement about the size, style, wording, upkeep and – mostly – cost of their memorials.

For me, the words chosen and the words not chosen are always fascinating. When I see an “ in Memory of Joe Bloggs, husband of Joella Bloggs and father of Joseph Junior” and then in newer engraving below “In loving and eternal memory of Joella Bloggs, loyal wife of the late Joe and dearly beloved Mother of her devoted son Joseph” – and I really did see that once – I’m left wondering who hated whom in the Bloggs family and why. The love certainly wasn’t evenly shared around. “Loyal” is quite a choice, isn’t it?

Abercorn Cemetery, walking distance from my childhood home.

And it’s hard to feel warm towards those Victorian patriarchs whose names are finally chipped in at the bottom of the headstone after they’ve worn out three wives and buried eleven of their twenty-odd offspring.

Much more accessible warm feelings belong to those loving families who make the cemetery where they’ve laid a sorely-missed loved one into an extension of their home. The title character in A Man Called Otto, goes to visit his wife in the cemetery, taking a flask of coffee and a folding chair, and fills her in on all his news. (The protagonist in the book, A Man Called Ove, might do it as well, but I haven’t read it.) And a dear friend of mine and probably of yours too, some of you, is currently taking great comfort from reading comic novels to her son at his graveside. If grief is the last act of love, that particular love was a hell of a show.

I admire the honesty of going to a grave to talk to a loved one. Or maybe “matter-of-factness” is a better term. The flip side of that is the scorn I felt when the residents of a quite posh street of houses, again in my home village, got together and changed their address from Cemetery Road, to Ferrymuir Lane. (There’s still a cemetery at the far end, whether they like it or not.) Likewise, I can imagine buying a gravedigger’s cottage called Gravedigger’s Cottage more easily than I could see myself buying a Yew Tree Cottage, trying to style out its quiet neighbours. Hey, that reminds me!

And I don’t mind a bit of humour in a graveyard either. Dorothy Parker’s “Pardon my Dust” is famous, although the joke is kind of obsolete now. Jack Lemmon’s gravestone reads “Jack Lemmon in”, which is adorable. And Spike Milligan (Irish comic) went with “I told you I was ill”. I hope his widow thought it was funny.

But I’m just as happy in cemeteries and graveyards with no witty epitaphs, no famous names – no names at all if they’ve worn off the soft sandstone over the centuries. Brompton Cemetery lists its celebrity . . . departed, but it’s most loved by the residents of West London for being a green space and a wildlife haven in the middle of such a busy city.

My favourite cemetery of all – actually a graveyard, because it’s set around a church – is at St-Just-in-Roseland in South Cornwall. It’s a small, semi-tropical garden full of palms and passionflowers, bougainvillea and agapanthus – so exotic (before I moved to California) and it’s in the most exquisite setting by the mouth of a river in a tiny, sleepy hamlet. I have no idea why I don’t have any pictures of it after the number of times I’ve been, but click here and you’ll see.

It’s so tranquil and such a perfect place to relax. In the daytime. I need to come clean. Even though I have no supernatural beliefs, I’m still a product of my culture – Bram Stoker to Buffy Summers – and all of my cemetery appreciation disappears when the sun goes down. I could not walk through a graveyard in the dark if you paid me. I know what happened to Tam O’Shanter. I know he’s fictional. I know that doesn’t matter at night.

In Scotzilla, the Last Ditch crew spend quite a bit of time in the cemetery in darkness. I’m like a brave general sending my troops off where I’d never dare to go.

Readers: How about you? Are you a twenty-four-hour graveyard coper? Do you avoid them in the day-time too? Can you read about exploits far beyond your own courage? I’d love to know.

Serial awards-botherer, Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes: preposterous 1930s private-detective stories; realistic 1940s amateur-sleuth stories about a medical social worker; and contemporary psychological standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes modern comedies about a Scot out of water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California. Scotzilla is book number seven of what was supposed to be a trilogy. She is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.  www.catrionamcpherson.com

Unknown's avatar

Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

34 Thoughts

    2. Yep, Daytime only. I’ve even got the collywobbles once going in “the veil of grey dawn”.

      Like

      1. I want to go with Judy and you !
        My current fav cemetery is a couple of miles away and huge. Great for wandering and picnics and spending some time at the graves of Frederick Douglass and Susan B Anthony. Especially now as they are both rolling over

        Like

  2. I would love to go on a nighttime tour of some of the cemeteries in New Orleans. It is on my to do list.

    Like

    2. Yes! If there was a tour I could do it. But if I got separated from the rest – to tie my shoelace – nope. Too many episides of Buffy started that way.

      Like

  3. Thanks for joining us today, Catriona. I have walked in many cemeteries, and I don’t think I have any qualms about strolling in one after dark – as long as I can see my footing. They often don’t have nice smooth paths, and if I fell, I might be joining the underground crew!

    Like

  4. Congratulations on the release of SCOTZILLA! I’ve added it to my TBR list and can’t wait for the opportunity to read and review it.

    As for me and cemeteries, I do love strolling them and admiring the grounds, but I’ll leave the night time walks to someone else. Even on vacation, we may take in a cemetery if it’s historic or talk about for one reason or other. One in particular was the Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, MO. When battles were rampant during the civil war and many dead from both sides, the two sides agreed to bury their dead in this one cemetery upon the condition that there was a separation between the two sides. Not only are there some beautiful tombstones of the famous generals and such, there is in fact a rock wall that separates the two sides with the union side and the other was the confederate side.

    Way back in the senior high days, there was tell of a large tombstone with the figure of Mary on the top. It was said that if you went to the cemetery at night during the full moon that the statue you could see the statue move. Of course those that went swore it did, but I know that the mind can see what you want it to at times. As for me, never went and still won’t care to go.

    Love reading books that are near as well as those afar. The ones you know about feel familiar while those afar give us a chance to explore places we haven’t been and may never get to.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

    Like

    1. Nope, a moving ststue wouldn’t be the way to entice me into a cemtery at night. (I’ve seen “Blink”.)

      Like

  5. Congratulations on the new release, Catriona! I absolutely adore Lexy and her Last Ditch crew. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate cemeteries. So much history to be absorbed there. I like how peaceful they are, too.

    Like

    1. They are, aren’t they? In soaps ther’s sometimes a ruckus round a grave but in real life I’ve never seen it.

      Like

  7. Congratulations on your latest ookl, Catriona! What an interesting topic! I am not fond of cemeteries, and avoid them lile the plague…One exception is the famous cemetety in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is one of the most elaborate ones I have had to visit many times. I often had to invite travel agents to Buenos aires when I was working in the airline business and a tour of the cemetery was always inckluded. At least the tours were not at night 🙂 Thank you for your blog today, and for your fun books! JOY! Luis at ole dot travel

    Like

  8. I do like walking through cemeteries although I never really considered doing it at night. Given the right opportunity, I probably would go. I always like to visit a cemetery when in a new area, especially in older communities of the world. (I live in the western US where we aren’t too old!) They are just so interesting stirring the imagination with speculative possibilities. Congrats on the new book! I look forward to reading Lexie and the Ditchers new adventure.

    Like

    1. Ha! I really missed “old stuff” when I moved to California, Mary. So I know what you mean. I used to visit the grinding rock on Patwin land, because it was the oldest worked-upon thing around.

      Like

  9. Hi Catriona! Welcome back to the Wickeds and congratulations on Scotzilla.

    The cemetery in Key West is “don’t miss.” Filled with funny epitaphs and people from all walks of life with amazing stories. In Portland, Maine we live across the street from the oldest cemetery and I love watching the tourists wandering through while I drink my coffee in the morning.

    Like

  10. What a fun subject! I find cemeteries to be great sources for character names. A small cemetery near me has the name “Ransom Storm” on a headstone. 🙂

    Like

  11. Congratulations on the newest. Love the cover – well, who wouldn’t – right? Cemeteries at night, sure, why not. What peaceful places they are. My best cemetery story – when I lived in NY I lived one street away from St. Mary’s Cemetery. On a snowy night, I called for a cab. When it didn’t arrive, I called back to find out why. They had taken the street number incorrectly. The one they dispatch back would have put the driver in the cemetery. I asked why the cabbie hadn’t radioed (this is long before cell phones) and they said…because the cabbie picked up the fare. I had to wonder.

    Like

  12. Growing up among the graves, memorials, and grotto–my grandfather was the sexton of the Catholic cemetery of my hometown–I find great comfort with the peacefulness of graveyards. It was where I went to soothe my teenaged broken heart, to the lovely pond alongside the white crosses of the soldiers who died in the wars. We never bothered one another.

    Now we have a small family plot (not our family’s) from the 1800’s on our Kentucky farm. A surviving family member used to come and tend it every year, but I think he has since passed on himself. The site is on a hill overlooking a pretty valley with a creek at the bottom, and has the best view on the property.

    Looking forward to catching up with Lexie and the gang!

    Like

  13. Welcome back and congratulations on the new book. I love visiting cemeteries. We had family friends who lived next to one. Their daughter and I would walk all over it during the day. If I spent the night I was sure there were ghouls on the other side of the curtains. New England is full of old cemeteries and I loved visiting them. When we started the blog we had a picture of an old tombstone at the top of the page.

    Like

  14. I have always enjoyed cemeteries. They are such peaceful places. I used to go to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas when I was a student there. I would draw or take photos or just sit there in the serenity of the place. It was an amazing place. Though when I grew up, the cemetery in San Benito, Texas was a scary place that we were dared to go into on Halloween. Scary. But I am intrigued.

    Like

  15. Hi Catriona,

    I’m so glad for the shout-out to Quiet Neighbors. It’s my personal favorite of your stand-alones.

    I’m so looking forward to Lexy’s wedding (or non-wedding it seems) and to see what all my favorite Last Ditch characters are up to.

    I’m one of those who doesn’t require a cemetery to talk to my departed loved ones. I talk to them all the time, wherever I may be. (And you thought I was weird before this!)

    But I’ve always found a cemetery a wonderful spot for a picnic. Alas, not everyone has always agreed with me, and has told me so in no uncertain terms.

    Thank you for clarifying the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard. I’d always assumed they were perfect synonyms. You learn the most interesting things here.

    All my best,

    Lee Sauer

    Like

Comments are closed.