Castle Gay

Retired grocer Dickson McCunn sends his young friends John “Jaikie” Galt and Dougal Crombie on a walking holiday in Carrick. Their route becomes entangled with Thomas Carlyle Craw, an influential but reclusive newspaper proprietor who is mistakenly abducted during a student prank. A simple effort to carry a message draws them toward the secluded Castle Gay.

The castle is occupied by Evallonian monarchists who believe Craw can secure British support for restoring their candidate to the throne. Craw has no such power, yet journalists, political agents, and rivals interpret every absence or meeting as evidence of a conspiracy. Misidentification deepens when a reporter interviews McCunn in the belief that he is Craw.

John Buchan's Castle Gay combines political adventure with comedy about reputation and indirect influence. Readers can track the gap between what characters can actually do and what newspapers or factions imagine they control. Jaikie's growing attachment to Alison Westwater adds a personal stake to a plot driven by disguises, competing stories, and misplaced certainty.