K is for...

Karen Campbell - Karen Campbell is a former Glasgow policewoman and has used her experience to create a great protagonist in the tough but flawed Sergeant Anna Cameron in her first novel, THE TWILIGHT TIME, which features attacks on prostitutes, drug dealing and racial tension. Her second book, AFTER THE FIRE, centres on the aftermath of the police shooting of an unarmed girl. There's a great interview with Karen here where she talks about chasing a car thief who didn't realise until she caught him that she was female. "When I caught up with him he was leaning against a wall out of breath and said, 'If I'd known you were a woman I'd have never let you catch me."
"The Twilight Time, powered by stiletto-sharp prose, is a pertinent expose of the contamination seeping into lives from prostitution and a drugs economy ruled by money-laundering thugs. But against this background, her story also vividly illustrates the physical and emotional damage caused to police officers by the vile reality of their work." - Glasgow Herald

Kate Atkinson - Kate Atkinson is the author of several novels, as well as a play and several short stories. Three of her most recent books feature former police inspector turned private investigator Jackson Brodie - CASE HISTORIES, ONE GOOD TURN and WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? Here's an audio interview with her on BBC Radio 4's The Woman's Hour about WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? And here's a very interesting interview with her from The Times.
"Not just the best novel I have read this year ... but the best mystery of the decade. There are actually four mysteries, nesting like Russian dolls, and when they begin to fit together, I defy any reader not to feel a combination of delight and amazement. Case Histories is the literary equivalent of a triple axel. I read it once for pleasure and then again just to see how it was done. This is the kind of book you shove in people's faces, saying 'You gotta read this!'" - Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly.

Ken McClure - Ken McClure has been described as Scotland's Michael Crichton and is the author of 18 medical thrillers, several of which feature his series character Dr Steven Dunbar. He has a background in medical research and a PhD in molecular genetics (he apparently has a gene named after him). The thrillers cover such topics as IVF clinics, organ donors, gene therapy, smallpox, genetically modified crops, chemical warfare, multiple personality disorder and cancer research. He has also written 4 novels under the name Ken Begg.
"Ken McClure explains contagious illness in everyday language that makes you hold your breath in case you catch them. His forte is to take an outside-chance medical possibility, decide on the worst possible outcome… and write a book." - The Scotsman