49 pages • 1 hour read
Graeme Macrae BurnetHis Bloody Project: A Historical Thriller
Graeme Macrae BurnetFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Preface-Statements
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 15-37
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 37-59
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 59-83
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 83-96
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 96-112
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 112-126
The Account of Roderick Macrae, Pages 126-133 and Medical Reports
Extract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce Thomson
The Trial, First and Second Day
The Trial, Third Day-Epilogue
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaExtract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce ThomsonChapter Summaries & Analyses
Extract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce Thomson Summary
This portion of the book represents a chapter from a memoir written by James Bruce Thomson, the criminologist who examined Roderick during his imprisonment. It begins with his arrival at Inverness, where Andrew Sinclair has invited him to examine Roderick. Noting that he is generally unimpressed by Sinclair, he nevertheless examines Roderick, observing that “he was certainly of low physical stock, but he was not as repellent in his features as the majority of the criminal class” (141-42). After failing to engage Roderick in questioning, Thomson discusses Roderick’s family background with Sinclair, who reveals that Jetta hanged herself in the family barn.
Thomson concludes that while Roderick isn’t a raving lunatic, he might be suffering from “moral insanity,” and so resolves to study him further. He again questions Roderick, who is more willing to speak the next day, and asks him about the circumstances of the murders. Roderick is straightforward in his responses until Thomson confronts him with Flora’s sexual injuries, which cause him to demur. Concluding there is no more he can gain by questioning Roderick, Thomson departs the cell.
Soon after he travels with Sinclair to the parish of Applecross, where Thomson hopes to learn more about Roderick’s environment. They visit with Carmina Murchison (Smoke), who tells them that while Roderick was generally a good boy, he was sometimes known to talk to himself. Furthermore, she informs them that she and her husband had found Roderick masturbating in front of the window leading to their daughters’ room. Taking their leave, Sinclair and Thomson head to John Macrae’s house. John accepts them in but is reluctant to answer questions concerning his family life, offering little explanation for Roderick’s behavior or his family’s history with Lachlan Mackenzie. They leave the Macrae home and pay a visit to Lachlan Mackenzie’s home. There, they visit with his widow, who seems unimpressed by their visit. They return to the inn at Applecross, where Thomson retires to his room, leaving Sinclair to take “advantage of the hospitality below” (166).
Extract from Travels in the Border-Lands of Lunacy by J. Bruce Thomson Analysis
Thomson’s account of his investigation of Roderick clarifies certain events while inserting another obviously biased perspective that further confuses the facts of the case. It quickly becomes clear that Thomson thinks very highly of himself and goes to great lengths to hold himself apart from those he considers less qualified, intelligent, or worthy than himself. This is immediately apparent in his description of Andrew Sinclair, who he is quick to note is not “a man of the highest calibre” (141); Thomson goes on to imply that Sinclair is a gullible problem drinker. Although his investigation is thorough, these obvious biases make it difficult to know when Thomson might be altering his description of things to make himself look good.
Carmina Murchison’s revelation regarding Roderick’s habit of masturbating outside of her daughters’ window is another important detail concerning Roderick’s sexual misbehavior. In particular, it calls his description of his nighttime visit to the Mackenzie home into question. Although Roderick claims that visit was borne out of heartsickness and a desire to learn whether Flora was avoiding him, Carmina’s revelation suggests that he may have had an entirely different reason for paying a late-night visit to Flora’s window.
Additionally, Thomson expresses his belief in a genetic component to criminality. He notes of Roderick, upon their first meeting, that “he was certainly of low stock, but he was not as repellent in his features as the majority of the criminal class” (142). Although Thomson’s theories regarding criminality draw upon Darwinian theory and, as Burnet advises in his Preface, offer a more nuanced view of criminal behavior than was previously available, Thomson’s beliefs represent another sort of totalizing system that reduces complex human behavior to a matter of predetermined fate—albeit one that considers genetics and environment as opposed to religious belief.
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