Name James McLevy | Role Author | |
![]() | ||
Books McLevy: The Edinburgh Detective, McLevy Returns |
David Ashton, Creator of the Inspector McLevy Mysteries
James McLevy (1796–1875) was a prominent detective in Edinburgh during the mid-19th century, and later an author of popular crime mysteries.
Contents
Biography
The son of a farmer, he was born in Ballymacnab in County Armagh, Ireland. McLevy later moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, and became a builder's labourer before joining the police force in 1830.
In 1833 he became Edinburgh's first detective and handled 2,220 cases during his 30-year career, almost always securing a conviction. His fame was such that the UK Parliament asked for his advice on dealing with criminals and Mary Carpenter, the great social reformer, quoted him in her paper on dealing with convicts.
McLevy published a series of extremely popular books in the 1860s, including Curiosities of Crime in Edinburgh, Sliding Scale of Life and The Disclosures of a Detective. It is sometimes suggested that his writings helped to inspire Arthur Conan Doyle. McLevy sought forensic advice from members of the medical faculty at the University of Edinburgh, where Conan Doyle later studied.
McLevy died in Edinburgh on 6 December 1873.
In the late 1990s, the James McLevy Trophy, named after him, was donated by former Detective Superintendent John McGowan to recognise outstanding achievement in crime detection in Scotland.
Radio
As part of its Afternoon Drama programme, BBC Radio 4 has broadcast to date twelve series of dramas written by David Ashton and starring Brian Cox as McLevy, Siobhan Redmond as Jean Brash, Michael Perceval-Maxwell as Constable Martin Mulholland and David Ashton as Lieutenant Robert Roach. In the 1999 pilot play, Phyllis Logan played Jean and John Paul Hurley played Mulholland. Lieutenant Roach was not introduced until the actual first episode of Series One; in the pilot play, McLevy's superior was Lieutenant Moxey, with the change in command explained as Moxey having been "elevated" to The Haymarket (in the novel Shadow of the Serpent, the explanation is that Moxey "had left somewhat under a cloud and Roach had been swiftly drafted in from Haymarket to fill the gap ...").
Other recurring characters include:
While some of the series contain a thread connecting all of that series' stories into one storyline, the elements of each of the stories remain constant:
The historicity of the series is not always faultless. For example, an episode on 24 March 2015 involved a robbery of the British Linen Bank, although that bank did not obtain that title until 1906.
Pilot 1999
1. P- 1 26 July 99 McLevy, retitled "Happy Land" in re-broadcasts (The Afternoon Play)(A re-make of the Pilot episode entitled "Meet James McLevy" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 8 October 2016, with "Lieutenant Roach" taking the place of "Lieutenant Moxey" and "Hannah Semple" taking a more prominent role in the story)
1st Series 2000/01
2. 1- 1 Dec 21 00 For Unto Us3. 1- 2 Dec 28 00 The Trophy Club4. 1- 3 4 1 Jan The Second Shadow5. 1- 4 11 1 Jan The Burning Question2nd Series 2002
6. 2- 1 19 2 Jun A Good Walk Spoilt7. 2- 2 26 2 Jun Wild Justice8. 2- 3 3 2 Jul The Wild Spark9. 2- 4 10 2 Jul Stab in the Back3rd Series 2003
10. 3- 1 1 3 Dec Behind the Curtain11. 3- 2 8 3 Dec A Voice from the Grave12. 3- 3 15 3 Dec The Dark Shadow13. 3- 4 22 3 Dec Servant of the Crown4th Series 2006
14. 4- 1 3 6 Apr A Piece of Cake15. 4- 2 10 6 Apr The Sea Change16. 4- 3 17 6 Apr Sins of the Fathers17. 4- 4 24 6 Apr The Devil's Disguise18. 4- x 25 6 Dec Christmas Special5th Series 2009
19. 5- 1 27 9 Jan To Keep Him Honest20. 5- 2 3 9 Feb Picture of Innocence21. 5- 3 10 9 Feb The Chosen One22. 5- 4 17 9 Feb The Reckoning6th Series 2009/10
23. 6- 1 21 9 Dec A Bolt From the Blue24. 6- 2 28 9 Dec End of the Line25. 6- 3 4, 10 January Jack O' Diamonds26. 6- 4 11, 10 January Queen of Spades7th series 2011
27. 7- 1 2, 11 March The Firebrand28. 7- 2 9, 11 March Dead Reckoning29. 7- 3 16, 11 March Prince of Darkness30. 7- 4 23, 11 March A Distant Death8th series 2011
31. 8- 1 29, 11 November The Blue Gown32. 8- 2 6, 11 December Flesh and Blood33. 8- 3 13, 11 December A Fine Deception34. 8- 4 20, 11 December The Last Illusion9th series 2012
35. 9- 1 26, 12 November A Dangerous Remedy36. 9- 2 3, 12 December No Looking Back37. 9- 3 10, 12 December A Pearl in the Oyster38. 9- 4 17, 12 December The Cross-Roads10th series 2014
39. 10- 1 18, 14 February A Different Path40. 10- 2 25, 14 February The Cat's Claw41. 10- 3 4, 14 March A Sore Convulsion42. 10- 4 11, 14 March A Secret Life11th series 2015/16
43. 11- 1 15, 15 December A Price to Pay44. 11- 2 22, 15 December The Seventh Veil45. 11- 3 29, 15 December The Night Walker46. 11- 4 5, 16 January The Devil Makes A Move12th series 2016
47. 12- 1 10, 16 October A Matter of Balance48. 12- 2 11, 16 October A Man of Honour49. 12- 3 12, 16 October He Who Waits50. 12- 4 13, 16 October The Last GoodbyeThe Pilot episode and Series One to Ten are currently available on both CD and audio download.
Books
David Ashton has continued McLevy's story in his 2006 book Shadow of the Serpent (ISBN 978-1846971938); following volumes include Fall From Grace (2007) (ISBN 978-1-84697-050-4), Trick of the Light (2009) (ISBN 978-1846972027), featuring a young Arthur Conan Doyle, and most recently Nor Shall He Sleep (2012) (ISBN 978-1846972515), featuring Robert Louis Stevenson; all four novels are currently available in audio download format, read by David Ashton. McLevy's "nemesis" Jean Brash currently has a mystery of her own to solve, with McLevy in a supporting role, in Mistress of the Just Land (ISBN 978-1473632271), available in both paperback and e-book format as well as an audio recording read by Siobhan Redmond and David Ashton.
Short Stories
Two short stories, "No Rest for the Wicked" and "A Child is Born", were published in The Scotsman. Two more short stories, "End of the Line" and "The Painted Lady", are available for purchase in Amazon Kindle e-book format. All of these are also by David Ashton.