Fiddler on the Make

When the sleepy Scottish village of Cuddyford is colonised by well-heeled retirees and big-city commuters, Jigger McCloud, a waggish local farmer with a talent for playing the fiddle, an eye for the ladies and the main chance, isn't slow to make a quick buck at their expense. Jigger's oddball-but-loveable family consists of his beautiful tomboy of a wife Nessie (who sidelines in speedway racing and motocross!), his moped-mounted delinquent Granny, his stunning keep-it-all-under-wraps-until-you-bag-a-rich-guy daughter Maggie, his less promiscuously-fussy son Davie, and Bert, a randy little hamburger-craving dog. Life seems rosy for the McClouds until Jigger tries his scams on a mysterious foreign multi-millionaire, who arrives on the scene with plans to develop the area in ways that appeal neither to Jigger nor his milch cow incomers. The folk of Cuddyford, native and otherwise, promptly close ranks. Jigger's fatal attraction to the millionaire's seductive and sophisticated wife complicates matters, however, and contributes to the likely end of his lucrative position as de facto 'factor' to the permanently-skint local laird, the ineffectual old Duke of Gormley. But the Duke's feckless son and heir, Lord 'Ludo' Gormley-Crichton, figures prominently in one of Jigger's dodgy plans for self-advancement, so distinctly bent political jiggery-pokeries become the order of the day, with who else but Jigger wielding the poker? Comic shenanigans, quirky characters and sinister ploys abound, and it's Bert, Jigger's scruffy little dog, who turns out to be the hero of the piece as the McClouds and their beloved Cuddyford teeter on the brink of disaster. Died-in-the-wool country folk and nouveau rustiques alike should be prepared to have their legs mercilessly pulled as they read this quirky country tale.

About the Author :
Scotland's Peter Kerr became established as a bestselling author via his award-winning 'Snowball Oranges' series of narrative travelogues. The books recount his family's often hilarious experiences while attempting to grow oranges for a living - an occupation of which they knew absolutely nothing - on a little farm in the mountains of the Spanish island of Mallorca during the1980s. Those five books and their prequel, the set-in-Scotland 'Thistle Soup', sell in large numbers worldwide and have been translated into several languages. Now concentrating on writing fiction, Peter's stories, which all contain his hallmark brand of dry humour, range in theme from the offbeat 'Bob Burns Investigates' mysteries to his first historical novel, 'Song of the Eight Winds', an epic tale of Medieval Spain. In his venturesome, roller coaster ride through life, Peter has been a Civil Service Executive Officer (for eighteen reluctant months!), professional jazz musician, record producer, farmer of beef cattle, and rookie Mallorcan orange grower - which is where we came in. Married with two grown-up sons, he now lives back in his home county of East Lothian, 'The Garden of Scotland'.

Review :
"A delicious, delightful and devilishly funny gem of a novel." (Stornoway Gazette). "A rollicking good tale." (Majorca Daily Bulletin). "A hoot, pure fun, an observation on the absurd. If you like Tom Sharpe's humour, you'll like this." (Welsh Books Council). "Will keep you smiling all the way through." (Lothian Life Online). "Tongue-in-cheek - a countryside community at odds with an influx of townies." (Edinburgh Evening News). "A fun Scottish ribtickler. A thoroughly entertaining and cheering read." (Amazon UK). "A tightly written plot and a delightful cast of characters." (I Love A Mystery Magazine). "Combines dry humour and quirky characters with sinister ploys." (East Lothian Life Magazine). "Neatly told with lots of humour." (Coastrider Newspaper - Spain). "A fun tale of countryside confusion and some sly collusion." (Bookworld Espana). "Comical incidents abound in this lively, fast-paced tale." (The Scots Magazine). "All very tongue-in-cheek - a not-everyday story of country folk." (Writers' Forum Magazine).