Loch Lomond at New Year – The Real Inspiration Behind Power and Treachery
Loch Lomond, the Scottish loch within easy reach of Glasgow, with the town of Balloch on its shore, is where I found the inspiration for Power and Treachery, book 3 in my McBride & Tanner series, on a freezing New Year's Day walk. Here's how a walk through the grounds of a luxury hotel turned into a murder mystery at a G7 summit.
New Year's Day at Loch Lomond
It was Hogmanay 2021–22, I'd given up on a research trip to Edinburgh, and I'd made my way to Loch Lomond for a few nights. I usually drive north, but I've also made that journey on the Caledonian Sleeper.
After watching the fireworks over the loch from the balcony of my waterside cabin, I got up late, had breakfast by the loch (in my warmest coat) and then headed out for a walk.
Unbelievably, people were swimming in the loch. In Scotland. In January. Now, I know that a New Year's Day swim is a thing in Lyme Regis, with the famous Lyme Lunge, but at that point I didn't know there were people hardy (or perhaps foolhardy) enough to take a New Year's Day swim in the freezing cold waters of Loch Lomond.
Needless to say, I didn't join in. But I stood on the banks and watched, then carried on walking around the loch, past the eerily quiet Lomond Shores retail outlet and into Balloch.
What is Balloch like?
I've been to Balloch a few times, and 80% of the time it's a sleepy Scottish town, with a handful of pubs, a station and a smattering of shops. And, of course, direct (and very accessible from Glasgow) access to the loch, which is why for the other 20% of the time, Balloch is rammed full of visitors.
But on New Year's Day 2022, it was deserted. Utterly deserted.
I wandered around looking for a pub that might be open for lunch, and was reminded not to try looking for an open pub in a semi-rural area of Scotland at Hogmanay. So I resigned myself to lunch at the local branch of McDonald's. Not exactly picturesque.
Cameron House and the idea for Power and Treachery
With nothing to do in Balloch and the temperature dropping, I decided to walk back to my cabin and enjoy some warmth and comfort along with its fabulous view. So I made my way past the high ropes course on the shores of the loch, past the silent marina at Duck Bay and through the grounds of a luxury hotel.
I have to admit I was a little daunted by walking through the grounds of Cameron House, as I learned it was called. I was wearing a waterproof over a fleece, along with muddy walking boots and a woolly hat, and this place looked seriously swanky.
I mean, there was a Lamborghini parked outside the main entrance and a seaplane on the loch. Would I be immediately identifiable as a trespasser?
It turned out my fears were misdirected. I've since stayed at Cameron House (in the name of research, you understand) and while the place is luxurious, it's not the slightest bit stuffy. And it's on the shores of a loch: everyone's wearing muddy boots and warm clothes.
And as I walked through the grounds of the hotel, I felt story inspiration strike.
Wouldn't this be a marvellous place to dump a body?
So I started thinking. This is a McBride & Tanner book, so it has to involve something a little more complex than a straightforward murder. Otherwise there'd be no reason to call in forensic psychologist Petra McBride.
And Cameron House isn't only luxurious, it's huge. The main building has been added to with multiple wings, and there are lodges dotted around the grounds. And of course it's easy to get to: barely any distance from Glasgow.
So what kind of mystery could I devise that would make full use of a large luxury hotel, and be somewhat out of the ordinary?
I'm not quite sure how it popped into my head, but I came up with the idea of the G7 using the hotel for a summit. I think something in my subconscious must have connected the location with Camp David in the USA, and the episode of The West Wing in which President Bartlet hosts a summit to begin Middle East peace talks.
So I had my premise. A murder at a G7 summit would certainly be high profile enough to get the attention of Petra McBride.
And what if not one, not two, but three murders all took place at the same time? What if three high-profile people from three major countries all died at exactly the same moment?
Now that would take an unusual criminal mind. Someone who either wanted a lot of attention, had a sense of the theatrical, or maybe had a very specific motive. The kind of mind that only an experienced forensic psychologist like Petra McBride would understand.
So as I walked, I plotted. I knew I had plenty of time to devise the story, as Blood and Money was already under way and would be the first book in the series. But I was in situ. I could surreptitiously explore the hotel grounds and find myself some crime scenes.
Is the hotel in Power and Treachery real?
Not quite. As it turned out, I didn't use Cameron House as the setting for the book. I visited the hotel twice more in the course of my research and decided I liked the place far too much to besmirch it in a book. So I invented another, similar hotel, on the banks of Loch Fyne thirty miles to the west, with far less accommodating staff.
But the seeds were there. A group of international delegates, a Scottish country house hotel, and three people dying at the exact same moment.
What could possibly go wrong?
