The White Knight of East Lothian

I’m doing a talk at the John Gray Centre in Haddington on 1st September 2025. The East Lothian town has a wonderful history of its own – as befits a place that, in the Middle Ages, was the fourth largest settlement in Scotland, after Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Roxburgh. It had a royal palace, an abbey and some impressive fortified walls which helped it hold out for Scotland’s longest siege (18 months from July 1548).

But what does Haddington have to do with our hero Antoine?

Well, I do mention the town in The Trail of Blood, as a hide-out for one of the characters. But there’s a bigger reason for me being here – which is to celebrate Antoine’s connections with the wider region, as part of the annual East Lothian Archaeology and Heritage Fortnight.

The real-life Antoine de la Bastie was put in charge of Dunbar Castle in 1514 and soon reinforced its fortifications, by adding an artillery bulwark. The fortress – then one of the strongest in Scotland – became his base for the next three years. In fact, he was trying to escape to it when he was killed in 1517.

So there’s a definite link between the historical Antoine and East Lothian. And the same is true of my fictionalised version, who takes part in key scenes at Dunbar (in The Trail of Blood), Tantallon and the Bass Rock (in The Dance of Vipers). Meanwhile, Soutra and the Lammermuirs play a role in both books.

I guess the bigger point is that while my first two books are mainly set in the Eastern Scottish Borders, one of my recurring themes is that lines on a map don’t count for much. So as the series unfolds, watch it spill into other regions, from the Lothians to Northumberland, Cumbria and Galloway. Maybe even further afield – who knows?