Izaak runs in late and pulls up a chair, silently holding up his copy of the book and showing me the cover with a bared-teeth excited grin.
Once everyone settles down, we make a toast to the Sleuthing Club and Finan says Daniel and I are very welcome tonight, and then we all decide to start at the beginning and talk about the book’s plot.
The Heart that Shatteredis a twisty, complicated psychological study with a grisly murder, a missing weapon, at least three plausible suspects, and a rather steamy burgeoning romance between the serious-minded Glaswegian investigating officer, Sergeant Beltane McClure, and the reticent, grave young police cadet, Emma Lindisfarne.
Bella wants to talk about the love story first, but Finan cuts in saying it was a ‘pointless distraction from the main story – the murder investigation.’
‘I couldn’t disagree more,’ Bella retorts, making her husband smile indulgently.
‘Here we go,’ Tom the fisherman throws in dryly. ‘They’re always like this.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ says Bella.
‘I have to agree with Bella,’ Izaak interrupts. ‘I think the love story was the most successful part of the whole book. It made me care about stuffy old Beltane McClure. Without it he’s just a grumpy git.’ The music of Izaak’s delicate accent makes this all the funnier and everyone laughs, except Finan, who shakes his head, and Tom and Monty who just shrug at one another.
The brothers are clearly more interested in the two women sitting at the bar in their summer dresses sipping pink wine than they are in anything we have to say. I see Tom nod his head in their direction, and Monty nods back and the pair grumble their excuses and off they prowl, smiling salaciously at the women, who seem delighted to be approached by the two rugged, storm-beaten young fishermen.
This piques Mrs C.’s interest, who in an instant has reached for her betting book and asked Finan, ‘Who are those girls?’
‘Visitors in room five and six. They’re leaving tomorrow.’
‘Aww, pity.’ The old matchmaker’s shoulders slump in disappointment, and I’m sure I see her daughter rolling her eyes at her mum, making Monica laugh beside her.
‘As I was saying,’ Bella remarks loudly, like a woman used to steering a rowdy crowd back to the subject in hand. ‘Falling in love brings out a side of McClure the reader hasn’t seen before, it’s necessary to develop his character, otherwise the series might stagnate. This is what, the fifth McClure murder book?’
Izaak tells her she’s right, he’s read them all.
‘Rubbish,’ Finan says firmly. ‘It’s unrealistic. A man like that can’t fall in love. He’s a closed book, desensitised by his military training and by the violence he’s seen in his career, not to mention his sad childhood.’
‘Seeing him soften and open up to Emma read as very natural to me,’ Mrs C. says. ‘People change when they fall in love, you know?’
‘But he left her in the end,’ Finan argues. ‘Didn’t change all that much, did he?’
‘He left her for her own good,’ Bella chimes in, holding the book to her chest, and I’m sure I see Finan’s eyes sink to his wife’s neckline and stay there for a moment. ‘Because he loved her, and it’s tragic because she’ll never understand that. He felt unworthy of her love, and he didn’t want to put her at risk, not when he’s got a price on his head from all those gang lords!’
‘So romantic, and so sad,’ Mrs C. adds, dreamy-eyed.
‘What do you think, Jude?’ Finan asks me and I have trouble articulating the things circulating in my brain but eventually I find my voice. ‘Well, to be honest, I thought the love story was inane.’
Daniel’s eyes snap from his phone to mine as though he can’t believe what he’s hearing. ‘What?Youdidn’t like the romantic bits?’
‘That’s right.’ I know it’s out of character for me, siding with the cold logic of Finan and Beltane McClure, and eschewing the romance and sentimentality favoured by Mrs C., Bella and Izaak, but there it is. ‘There’s nothing noble about leading a woman on, making her feel loved and wanted, making her think she’s breaking through his tough exterior and seeing the softness beneath, then dumping herfor her own good. What rubbish! And the poor woman never finds out why he’s left her. She’s stuck thinking it’s her fault. He’s not some self-sacrificing hero for giving her up; he’s just heartless and stony.’
Daniel raises his eyebrows and lifts his glass to his mouth as if to say, ‘You’ve changed,’ and I shrug at him because I know I have.
‘Emma had her suspicions about McClure from the start though, didn’t she?’ Izaak says. ‘She tried to resist him.’
‘People should always follow their gut instinct, especially in a crime novel. Instinct never lies,’ Finan says resolutely, and we all nod our agreement, except Izaak.
‘But people lie all the time, and that can confuse our instincts, can’t it?’ he says.
‘If someone’s dodgy, they’re always dodgy. End of,’ Finan says.
‘Depends what they’re lying about,’ says Bella. ‘People lie for all sorts of reasons, some of them noble reasons, like McClure does.’
‘That’s true,’ Daniel says, drawing everyone’s attention. ‘People put up walls and hide their true selves all the time, because they’re afraid.’
Everyone around the table seems impressed with this and they all nod sagely and mumble their agreement, especially Izaak who’s saying, ‘True, true.’
