It is dark now and my window onto the world is a small one. I do not know how much longer I will be here.
On 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Lionacleit on Benbecula, murdered his father, mother and aunt. At trial in Inverness, he was found to be criminally insane and confined in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison. Years later, his older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Living in isolation, he is ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode.
Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of five novels: the Booker-shortlisted His Bloody Project, which has been published in over twenty languages; the Booker-longlisted Case Study (named as one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2022); and the Georges Gorski trilogy: The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, The Accident on the A35 and A Case of Matricide. Born in Kilmarnock, he now lives in Glasgow.
