Abstract
Graeme Macrae Burnet's His Bloody Project (2015) gained larger critical attention when it was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Formally it is a historical novel with elements of detective fiction and the thriller.
The book playfully presents itself as a dossier consisting of ostensibly authentic documents related to the case of a triple murder committed by a young destitute peasant named Roderick Macrae in a small and remote crofting hamlet in the Highlands in 1869. The individual texts, written in different styles and genres, include medical reports, expert opinions, witnesses' testimonies, transcripts of the court proceedings and, most importantly, a memoir written by the culprit in his prison cell while he was waiting for the trial's sentence.
This article discusses Burnet's novel and its skilful composition within the context of British literary tradition, but also shows how it exemplifies the determining tendencies in contemporary historical fiction.