By  Jonathan Morris

BBC Books, out now

It’s plague-ridden Edinburgh in the mid 17th Century, but there’s more to fear than the rat-hopping fleas in the squalid tenements. The Doctor and Bill are joined by Nardole in this his first novel and find out the secrets of the ghosts of the bubonic plague victims.

When your PC’s autocorrect wants to change an author’s name from Morris to Mortis, there’s a spooky, deadly destiny to it all, which is all very apt for a dark tale that takes the Scottish capital’s greatest scourge (half the population died) and looks at what happens if the dead just refuse to stay dead. Author Morris writes the comic strip on occasions for Doctor Who Magazine and has also written Touched by an Angel and Festival of Death. This time he stretches his writing muscles with phonetic Scottish dialogue that thrives on its use of cannae and o’. But this isn’t the comedy speech bubbles of The Broons or Oor Wullie, and while you have to condition yourself to these unfamiliar speech patterns, it adds a layer of authenticity.

The descriptions of the squalid capital city are also spot-on, evoking a smelly hellhole with little hope of salvation, and not the obvious location for a Doctor Who story. The Night Doctor is also vividly drawn (not related to the War Doctor, but there’s an idea you can run with if you want) his grand beaky mask, leather coat and tricorn hat juxtaposing the poor, ragged tenement dwellers giving up their loved ones. The ghosts (or are they aliens?) are cut from the same cloth as the Gelth or Carrionites (respectively from The Unquiet Dead and The Shakespeare Code), ghoulish beings literally dying to reveal their secrets.

Where the book is least strong, and it’s a fault that feels inevitable in the circumstances, is in the depiction of Bill and Nardole. One assumes that at the time of writing there was little to go on, and unfortunately the Bill that Pearl Mackie has made her own feels a little removed from the girl on the page. Nardole also feels more straightforward than the jokey and enigmatic valet that we’ve seen in the first handful of episodes in Season 10. It’s not a reflection on his writing, which is sharp and pacey, it’s the ‘bible’ he was probably working to. The Tenth Doctor in particular is very Capaldi-like, and I’d like to see Jonathan get the chance to write another Bill and Nardole tale with the benefit of a season’s episodes under its belt.

Verdict: A dark and dirty voyage to one of Scotland’s bleakest moments, death comes calling in many different guises, and is the perfect catalyst for a spooky tale for young adult Doctor Who fans who yearn for the macabre. 6/10

Nick Joy