Welcome to the official home of The Convenient, a novel written by Albert Anthony Marsolais and Bettyanne Bethea Twigg.

Convenient, mistress, whore (B.E.) Cant expression of standard meaning, favorable to one’s comfort.  In Elherege, Man of Mode (1676) III.iii.234, a man sees ‘Dorimant’s convenient, Madame Loveit.’ on the street and makes lewd comments about her.

“All substances are poisonous, there is none that is not a poison;
the right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy.”
Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus – 1493-1541

The Convenient is available now.  Find a place to get it here.

The Convenient is a medical thriller and mystery set in the beginning of the 18^th century in Scotland.  It is told by from the point of view of two characters, Elspeth MacLeod, a healer from the Isle of Skye, and Malcolm Forrester, a physician from Edinburgh.  They both end up working in a small town called Torrport located near Edinburgh.

In 1705, Scotland was in many ways not so much different than today.  Worries about politics and war were common, with religion and disease thrown in the mix. Queen Anne was on the throne of both England and Scotland.  There was a unified monarchy but separate parliaments and laws.  England wanted unification and Scotland wasn’t sure, and the Jacobite supporters of the exiled James, Prince of Wales, were always a threat.  Meanwhile the major powers were fighting the War of the Spanish Succession on the continent, considered to be the first world war of modern times.

But for most, making a living and caring for one’s family were paramount, and disease, poverty and misadventure always a possibility.  For the elite, power, wealth and prestige were prime motivators driving history.