Musicians penning novels is nothing new. Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave have done it to considerable acclaim. Morrissey’s “unpolished turd” took a beating while Pete Townshend’s recent effort was seen to be middling. In Scotland, under his Momus monicker, Nick Currie has released six novels to date and Stuart David, formerly of Belle and Sebastian, has two to his name. Colin MacIntyre, better known for the last twenty plus years as Mull Historical Society, now adds a second to his own bibliography with When The Needle Drops (2024).
Although Ivor Punch, the copper at the centre of the novel is not a new creation (MacIntyre’s 2015 debut was titled, The Letters of Ivor Punch), this book is the first in a crime series dubbed The Mull Mysteries. Mull, out on the west coast of Scotland, is one of the largest islands in Britain though less densely populated than others. There’s a remoteness to its single track roads and small villages, and the prospect of a crime series set there is welcome, though it may in time have locals eyeing each other with increased suspicion as the crime rate creeps up.
Set in the week before Christmas in 1998, Punch is expecting another sleepy time of it, such is island life. But things are about to change when a child is reported missing, a musician disappears in an unscheduled flight from a local airfield, and strange effigies are found around the island. Could they be connected? That’s for Punch to find out.
The novel takes inspiration from the Great Mull Air Mystery, an unsolved case from 1975 where a musician took off in a solo night flight and promptly disappeared. Though his body was later found, in mysterious circumstances, neither the reason nor the plane have ever been found. MacIntyre takes the case’s lacunae and imagines his own backstory over a fictional instance of the mystery, overlapping it with his own subplots, and sending in his detective.
Billed as “tartan noir with a musical twist”, it’s certainly shot through with a passion for music. From Punch’s spinning of Rod Stewart records, the namedropping of bands no doubt drawn from MacIntyre’s own touring experiences, and nods to appearances on Jools Holland. We don’t have Chapters, but ‘Tracks’, split into Side A and Side B. That its plot also centres around musicians adds to the whole musical experience. But as far as the noir aspect goes, it probably comes down on the lighter side due to its frequent, though rarely dark, humour. There’s plenty of patter in the dialogue, which is often a joy.
Despite its contemporary-ish setting, its limited cast add to the remoteness of the place, and at times, even with a severed hand in play, I felt it had the aura of golden age cosiness. This may also be down to its people, often characterised with amusing nicknames, but to my mind in need of more than good banter to bring them to greater life on the page. Punch’s oft repeated catchphrase (‘And fuck’) is one that I can’t fathom, rhythmically or contextually, so I have no idea how it should be delivered.
Arguably, When The Needle Drops won’t fully satisfy seasoned readers of darker crime fiction (who like a dose of introspection and existentialism with their dead bodies), but it may well capture the curious reader looking to dip their toes in the genre. In this novel we visit a limited patch of locations (mostly Tobermory, Salen, and Calgary Bay), but as a setting Mull is definitely awash with interesting places for Punch’s future cases, and the local tourist board will no doubt be watching with interest. As it’s the first of a planned series, I’m sure MacIntyre’s plotting will improve with each effort, but my feeling is that this Punch needs a stronger hook.