The Beltane Massacre by Ray Critch
Reviewed by Robin McGrath
The Beltane Massacre, a first novel by Ray Critch, is a fast, pleasurable read that has the smooth style of an experienced writer. The massacre of the title is a terrorist attack on an Edinburgh-based pagan celebration by a rabid Christian, which kills or injures over a hundred people. The central character, Rowan McRae, is a Canadian doctoral student, who is injured during the attack, but who tragically loses his wife and infant child. For those who avoid stories involving dead babies, the actual attack is confined to the first few pages. The rest of this compelling book focuses on Rowan's grief, which he harnesses to help MI5 track down the killer and those responsible for hiding him away.
The Beltane Massacre is reminiscent of a classic spy novel—with a modern twist.
A year later, in London, Rowan runs into an old friend from his time as an intelligence officer for the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. An MI5 agent whose investigation of the attack is being stymied by someone high up in the service. He recruits Rowan to help him figure out who is putting impediments in his way and why. Unfortunately, whenever they find a lead, the possible suspect is murdered.
This detective story is more like the English drawing room mystery than the hard-boiled American type, so of course there has to be a romantic interest. Rowan meets a beautiful barrister of Pakistani heritage, feels an immediate attraction to her. When he's not trying to track down the terrorist, he's holding imaginary conversations with his dead wife. She tells him not to ruin his life with grief, but to go on living for both of them and their son. He struggles to accept that loving a new woman doesn't mean he didn't love and grieve his murdered family.
There is a lot of texting, distance-monitoring, computer and phone-hacking, tracking devices and such in the process of Rowan and his pal working on the mystery. None of which this reader knows anything about, but it all seems plausible and logical. Readers are given no more than they need to know to follow the part these devices have in the plot.
Before becoming a lawyer, Ray Critch was a doctoral student himself at Edinburg, so it's easy to assume that he modelled his central character on himself to some extent. Several members of one family seem to have been the prototypes for the central suspects, and anyone with a basic knowledge of Newfoundland industry and education will be able to identify them. The fictional duo are called Major Hilary Hallisbury and Lord (Hallisbury) Rutherford, who own paper mills in Canada, are powerful newspaper publishers, and the founders of a generous Rutherford Fellowship for Newfoundland students to attend graduate school in Britain. It can be no coincidence that this family's businesses are a match for Edmund Cecil Harmsworth a.k.a Lord Rothermere, who was the chancellor of Memorial University for nine years. He is also the founder of the Rothermere Fellowship, which is not as prestigious as the Rhodes, but is actually worth more. This fellowship supported Critch through his three years in Scotland.
A reviewer of murder mysteries must never spoil the ending by revealing too much. However, I cannot be anything but curious to know if Ray Critch thought this book would be a nod of recognition and gratitude to his previous benefactors. I wonder if he sent them a copy. One thing I am certain of, however; if he writes another mystery, I'll be in the lineup to buy a copy, if only to see if he skewers members of the local law community.
About the Author
By day, Ray Critch is a lawyer who has appeared at every level of court in Newfoundland and Labrador and at the Supreme Court of Canada. By night, he is a happily married father of two who, once in a while, manages to carve off some spare time to pop down to a local sports bar and do some writing. In what now feels like a past life, but was actually 2010, he obtained a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. Before getting called to the bar in 2016, he taught at universities in Edinburgh, Scotland; Vienna, Austria; and St. John’s, Newfoundland.
About the Reviewer
Robin McGrath was born in Newfoundland. She earned a doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, taught at the University of Alberta, and for 25 years did research in the Canadian Arctic on Inuit Literature and culture before returning home to Newfoundland and Labrador. She now lives in Harbour Main and is a full-time writer. Robin has published 26 books and over 700 articles, reviews, introductions, prefaces, teaching aids, essays, conference proceedings and chapbooks. Her most recent book is Labrador, A Reader's Guide (2023). She is a columnist for the Northeast Avalon Times and does freelance editing.
Book Details
ISBN: 9781778530531
Item Publish Date: 2025 / 05 / 26
Page Count: 248