Lochinvar is an 1897 Swashbuckler by Samuel Rutherford Crockett (The Raiders). It forms a sequel to Men of the Moss Hags. Wat Gordon takes over as hero from his cousin Will as both try to build a new life as soldiers in a regiment of Scottish exiles in the Netherlands: but he soon gets swept up in the plots and intrigues of the villainous Earl of Barra.
- Alliterative Name: Murdo McAlister, Davie Dunbar.
- Anti-Climax: Of the effective rather than the disappointing kind. It would be natural given the genre to expect a final Duel to the Death between Wat and Barra: but by the time they finally confront each other, both are wounded and sick and in no shape to fight. Instead, we get the rescue of Kate and ensuing elopement that caps the literary reference the title, in retrospect, always promised.
- Anti-Villain: From the Covenanters' viewpoint, with which Crockett is certainly in sympathy, Viscount Dundee is the bad guy, but he's presented as a noble character.
- Arranged Marriage: Kate's family try to force her to marry Barra.
- Artistic Licence – History: The lordship of Barra was held by Catholic MacNeils who would never have served with the Covenanters. The "Earl of Barra and the Small Isles" in the novel, however, is Murdo McAlister, who infiltrates the Covenant regiment (he's not a sincere Covenanter but is at least a Protestant).
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Most of the good guys are gentry, but the one actual titled noble in the main cast (at least until Dundee's belated appearance) is the villainous Earl of Barra.
- The Duchess of Wellwood, a more minor but significant character, is at best deeply unpleasant.
- Badass in Distress: Wat ends up in a military prison and needs to be rescued.
- Jack is captured after the shipwreck.
- Beleaguered Boss: King William at the end. Overthrowing James means he's now responsible for ALL of James' former kingdoms, including unruly Scotland, which he cordially wishes he could not only give away to someone else but physically move to a great distance from his other realms.
- Beta Couple: Will and Maisie (the main couple from Men of the Moss Hags).
- Betty and Veronica: Relatively modest and proper Kate competes for Wat's affections with glamorous and Hot-Blooded Action Girl Marie.
- Big Sister Instinct: Maisie towards Wat and Kate. (Both are strangers in town with few other friends; she becomes fiercely protective of them. She is in fact slightly younger than either, as related in Men of the Moss Hags, but as a married woman and householder she is the metaphorical "elder".)
- Kate seems to bring this out in other women - Bess Landsborough is supposed to be one of her jailers but is similarly maternal and protective.
- Brave Scot: Many, many characters.
- The Cavalier Years: Set in the 1680s.
- Changing of the Guard: Will Gordon, the protagonist and narrator of Men of the Moss Hags, is reduced to a secondary role, while the narration switches to third person and his cousin Wat takes centre stage.
- Character Title: Protagonist Wat Gordon is the Laird of Lochinvar.
- The Clan: Sundry literal examples, unsurprisingly in seventeenth century Scotland, but the McAlisters are very much the criminal sub-type of the trope.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mehitabel is always ready with a putdown and has a nickname for everyone. Jack is no slouch either.
- Death of the Hypotenuse: Marie's tragic death removes any obstacle her love for Wat might have posed to his relationship with Kate.
- Defiled Forever: The reason Marie sank to working in the Coronation Inn.
- The Dragon: Haxo the Bull, to the Earl of Barra.
- Drowning His Sorrows: Jack puts away prodigious quantities of wine when he thinks Wat is going to be executed.
- Engineered Heroics: Barra has Kate mugged so he can rescue her.
- Fantasy World Map: Includes a map of the fictitious islands of Fiara and Suliscanna.
- Fictional Province: You'll search in vain for Suliscanna and Fiara on a real map of the Hebrides.
- Historical Domain Character: William of Orange puts in a very brief appearance - and returns at the end.
- When Wat and Jack accidentally end up joining King James' Highland army they meet many real chiefs and commanders, including Bonnie Dundee himself.
- Will Gordon was also real, though his life was conveniently obscure.
- Illegal Religion: Set in the aftermath of the "Killing Time", when Covenanted Presbyterians were viciously persecuted. This is why many of the characters are exiled from Scotland.
- Lighter and Softer: Than Men of the Moss Hags, which harrowingly describes the persecution of the Covenanters.
- Love Dodecahedron: There's little real doubt that Wat and Kate will end up together, but Wat flirts with Marie, who is in love with him, while Kate entertains the suit of Barra, who previously seduced and abandoned Marie. Wat also has had a past dalliance with the Duchess of Wellwood, who by the time she re-enters the narrative has married Kate's father.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: One of Barra's henchmen is simply called "Killer".
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Neither Wat nor Jack actually cares much about the Covenant cause - indeed, Jack has fought against it; they just made Scotland too hot to hold them for unrelated reasons.
- Not Quite Dead: Barra's recovery from his wound is a nasty surprise for the heroes.
- Not What It Looks Like: Wat despairs of Kate's love when he sees her apparently laughing with Barra at his plight. (Of course, this is exactly what Barra wanted him to think he saw.)
- Barra later uses Marie's role in Wat's escape to convince Kate's father that Wat and Marie were lovers - though he fails to fool Kate.
- Passive Rescue: Marie springs Wat from prison by charming then drugging his jailer.
- Wat himself later has to be extremely stealthy to rescue Jack and Kate from the Isle of Suliscanna.
- Protagonist Title: Wat Gordon, the main protagonist, is the Laird of Lochinvar.
- La Résistance: The Covenanters at the beginning; thanks to the Persecution Flip after William seizes the throne, the Highlanders loyal to King James have become this by the end (both rebellions being portrayed sympathetically).
- Revenge: Marie stabs Barra for his past abuse and his plots against Wat.
- Sacrificial Lion: Marie dies saving Wat and Jack.
- Scenery Porn: Less than usual for Crockett, as nearly half the novel takes place in the Dutch city of Amersfort. As soon as we're back in the Scottish countryside, though, this trope is back in force. (Unusually, this is mostly about Highland locations, as only the bookends of the story take place in Crockett's native Galloway.)
- Sesquipedalian Smith: Madcap Mehitabel Smith.
- Setting Update: Insofar as it's Inspired by… Walter Scott's Young Lochinvar: in the poem the story is already well known by 1513, but the novel takes place in the 1680s.
- Shout-Out: Two close male friends, one somewhat older than the other, are shipwrecked in the Hebrides, separated, and the younger trapped for days on an uninhabited island? It's a much smaller plot element here than in the original but this episode strongly suggests Crockett had been reading Kidnapped.
- A major one, perhaps unsurprisingly, to Walter Scott's poem Young Lochinvar: Wat shows up at Kate's unwanted wedding, asks a loving-cup from the bride, she leaps onto his horse and they escape together. Arguably the whole plot has been created as a backstory for the poem.
- A Side Order of Romance: Marie, introduced as a barmaid, falls in love with Wat.
- Slipping a Mickey: Marie does this to Black Peter.
- Species-Specific Afterlife: Wat speculates eloquently on whether there's a Heaven for horses.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Wat and Jack get picked up by Keppoch's men, he recognises Jack's boots as those of a French officer and assumes they are in French service. Realising that it's the best way to survive among the Highlanders, they pretend to be French agents there to aid "the Good Cause"... even though they have no idea what the "Cause" actually IS.
- Surpassed the Teacher: Wat surprises everyone by beating Jack in a duel.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Marie escapes Amersfort disguised as a page boy.
- Sword Fight: As befits the genre, there are plenty of these.
- Tomboy: Mehitabel wonders if love can possibly be as good as climbing trees and eating pignuts.
- Vasquez Always Dies: The Action Girl is the Sacrificial Lion.
- Venturous Smuggler: Captain Smith is the amoral type.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The Highlanders suffer from chronic infighting, much to Dundee's frustration.
- We Used to Be Friends: Wat and Jack before their friendship is rekindled.
- Worthy Opponent: Jack to Wat before switching sides.
- Wretched Hive: The Coronation Inn.
- You Can Barely Stand: Wat insists on riding back to Galloway to prevent Kate's wedding to Barra despite being wounded and feverish.
- You Have Failed Me: Barra nearly has a clansman crucified for getting drunk and letting a prisoner escape.
