News, Reviews and Interviews

The My Life In Books event at the wonderful Glasgow Women's Library last night seemed to go well. We had a nice turnout and Karen Campbell and Caro Ramsay were a joy to interview. They talked about books that had influenced them throughout their lives (turns out that between us we had a shared history of Enid Blyton (although I was the only one of us who'd ever got into trouble because of The Famous Five), Black Beauty, Just William and the Jennings series of books. They also talked about their own writing. Karen read from a very atmospheric piece from her most recent book PROOF OF LIFE and Caro read the chilling prologue of her forthcoming book, due out in January. I had a good time, despite my nerves prior to the event.

Talking of JUST WILLIAM, serendipitously, Kate Atkinson chooses it for her top 10.

Jake Kerridge does a much better round-up of Harrogate than I did but then, he gets paid for it.

A review of Allan Guthrie's SLAMMER and an interview with the man himself over at The Crime Of It All, where there is also a review of Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE.

Ian Rankin and others campaign to save Radio 4's short story content. Talking of Ian Rankin, here's a reminder about the charity event in aid of the Royal Blind.

Fancy a mystery tour of England and Scotland? Want to meet crime writers? Have a spare $6,000? Then this could be the trip for you. While you're in Edinburgh, you could go on this TRAINSPOTTING tour. Let's hope the "worst toilet" isn't too realistic.

Reader Dad reviews Ray Banks' small but perfectly formed novella GUN. And Paul Brazill interviews Ray here.

The Globe And Mail on Alexander McCall Smith's THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, and Bookbag reviews Gordon Ferris' THE HANGING SHED.

Chris Ewan is appearing at a bookstore near you (if you live in Thousand Oaks) on August 6th. If you are near, go and see him, he's very entertaining and a top bloke.

Aye, Right, it's Aye Write

First of all, this weekend's film viewing. First was a French film called Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien. The English title - although sticking reasonably close to the French - was the rather rubbish - Harry, He's Here To Help. Don't let the title put you off. It's a lovely little witty psychological thriller. A French family, on the way to the holiday home which they are doing up, meet up with an old school-friend of the husband, Michel. Michel has only the vaguest memories of Harry, but Harry seems to be rather more...obsessed... with Michel. Hitchcockian suspense, black comedy, and nicely low-key. Our next film was The Disappearance of Alice Creed - a claustrophobic British thriller with a cast of three and which mostly takes place in one room - a room where two men take a young woman and hold her hostage, in order to extract a large ransom from her rich father. A good (but not great) thriller - gritty and twisty but lacking in something. I didn't care enough about any of the characters. Well worth a watch, though.

The Aye Write programme is up. From a quick look through, the crime related events are (I've put a * by the ones I'm planning on attending, if anyone fancies meeting up):

Friday March 4th
Jasper Fforde - 18.00 - 19.00

Saturday March 5th
Alexander McCall Smith - 10.30-11.30
Denise Mina, Karen Campbell, Caro Ramsay - 14.00-15.00 *
Alex Gray, Louise Welsh, Alice Thompson - 15.30-16.30 *
Mark Billingham and Jo Nesbo - 19.00-20.00

Sunday March 6th
Val McDermid - 17.00-18.00 *

Monday March 7th
Allan Guthrie, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh - 19.30-20.30 *

Tuesday March 8th
Kevin MacNeil - 18.00-19.00 (not sure if it's crime fiction but one description calls it a 'dark, maniacal thriller'. It looks excellent. *
Doug Johnstone - 19.30-20.30 *

Friday March 11th
Christopher Brookmyre - 21.00-23.00

Saturday March 12th
Iain M Banks and Ken MacLeod 14.00-15.00 (although this one is more SF)
Neil Forsyth - 15.30-16.30 (more his comedy than crime fiction)

I think that's it, but if I've missed anything, please let me know.

And another event, on 4th February Louise Welsh at the GFT talking about Robert Louis Stevenson and the Theatre of The Brain.

And now, a few reviews. First of all, a very thoughtful and interesting review of Stuart MacBride's SHATTER THE BONES, The Star Online reviews Ian Rankin's THE COMPLAINTS, and the lovely Dorte enjoys John Buchan's THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS.

Ian Rankin, amongst others, talks about turning fifty.

And, finally, David Thomas in The Mail on The Pitbull of The Baskervilles.

I Miss The Dead Dictators' Widows' Society

Bookblog for Bookworms with a piece on Kate Atkinson.

The best of the year lists are starting to appear. First of all, Ian Rankin (amongst others) weighs in with his favourites in The Guardian, and over in The Telegraph, Sadie Jones enjoyed Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE.

Heath Lowrance over at the excellent Psycho-Noir has been getting people to list their top 20 noir novels. And here's my list (thanks for asking me, Heath, it was fun (of course, I'm now kicking myself for the ones I didn't include)).

Alexander McCall Smith will be appearing at the Bath Literature Festival at the end of February.

Denise Mina is interviewed in The Scotsman.

Val McDermid's Pick Of The Week on BBC Radio 4.

A Good Old-Fashioned 120 Unit Week reviews John Buchan's GREENMANTLE. Nice to see old stuff getting reviewed.

A report on the Lennoxlove Book Festival, including Ian Rankin thrilling the crowd with the revelation that Rebus may be back.

And another report of Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah at the Manchester Literature Festival. And the lovely Dorte reviews DEAD BEAT.

I've been wondering why I haven't received a request for cash from Mrs Sese-Seko and the rest of The Dead Dictators' Widows' Society for a while and here's my answer - they're all too busy conning Scotland's councils.

And, finally, talk about adding insult to injury...

Odds and Oddments

The note on our close door, written on the betting slip, now has a small addition. Somebody has decided that the horse named "Please shut the door behind you, thank you" is running at odds of 10/1. Or perhaps that's the odds of someone actually taking notice of the request. Who knows, but I'm in for a tenner.

An interview with Denise Mina in Publishers Weekly.

And another interesting PW article on violence in novels.

Matt Tuckey of Power is a State of Mind attends an event at the Manchester Literature Festival with Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah.

Loads and loads of upcoming literary events in Edinburgh's libraries.

The wonderful Charlie Stella reviews Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE and also mentions Len Wanner's interviews with Scottish crime fiction authors, which I've had the pleasure of dipping into.

Constable and Robinson are to publish a new (well, old) series by M C Beaton - not crime fiction but C&R believe it will appeal to fans of Beaton's Agatha Raisin.

A review of Caroline Dunford's Burke and Hare play.

The Vancouver Sun reviews Kate Atkinson's STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG. And the Secluded Charm blog looks at the opening of BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM.

And, finally, I'd already realised this years ago when it seemed as though every drunk bloke in a British crime drama was slurring in a Scottish accent.

Hydrophobia, Haircuts and Haunted Houses

The Independent reviews Val McDermid's TRICK OF THE DARK. And Val's on The Book Show's Off The Shelf. And here are her top 10 Oxford novels.

Stephen Fry will play Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock Holmes 2.

A very varied range of Alexander McCall Smith related items. Middletown, Ohio, is having a Botswana weekend and there will be an exhibit about Alexander McCall Smith's books. The man himself, meanwhile, was at the Goteborg Book Fair, and will be at the Boston Public Library on October 25th. He's also taking part in World Rabies Day, and congratulations are in order as he receives an award in Botswana.

The always funny Douglas Lindsay on when haircuts go bad.

Ian Rankin, Iain Banks and Quintin Jardine at the Lennoxlove Book Festival in November. And a reminder of the event at the Portobello Book Festival with Ian Rankin, Allan Guthrie, Doug Johnstone, Alice Thompson and Caroline Dunford.

The lovely Caro Ramsay talks about her diploma in forensic science, osteopathy, and living in a haunted house.

BookGeeks reviews M C Beaton's SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE, while at the other end of the spectrum the marvellously named Cinema Fromage looks at Denise Mina's graphic novel A SICKNESS IN THE FAMILY.

And thanks to all for your comments and e-mails on the Ramones story blogathon - I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone's stories! I've already seen one and it's a cracker.

Titbits and Twists

Lots of stuff about Val McDermid today as she continues her tour of New Zealand and Australia. First of all, an audio interview on The Book Show on ABC, Craig at Crimewatch goes to see her in Auckland, and here's six words from Val at the always excellent Jen's Book Thoughts.

Caro Ramsay on becoming a crime writer by accident.

If you have a Sky account you can watch Ian Rankin on TV.

Alexander McCall Smith and the Green Pencil Award.

A (mostly SF) interview with Iain Banks.

Russel McLean is appearing at Houston's Murder By The Book on October 8th. Sadly, it's a couple of weeks before my event (gulp - what the heck am I going to do???) so I won't have the moral support of the lovely Russel.

Closer to home, Louise Welsh is appearing in Forres on 16th September and Alice Thompson will be at the Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh on 7th October for a Gliterary Lunch.

Irvine Welsh says that the only entrepreneurs in Scotland's housing schemes are the drug dealers. And it's probably a bit late for this, but there's a special screening of Trainspotting at Edinburgh's Dominion.

And I've mentioned it before, but if you're ever stuck for something to read, pop over to the brilliant A Twist of Noir, where there are plenty of great stories, 564 of them so far to be exact. And, in an additional twist, from story 600 onwards, the story number is also the number of words in the story. Genius.

"Slugs and snails are after me..."

The contemporary Sherlock Holmes drama 'Sherlock' , written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, will have its first airing on July 25th with the first episode A Study In Pink.

A video interview with Ian Rankin from Sky Arts.

Nicholas Royle at the Independent really enjoyed Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE. And a nice review for Caro Ramsay's DARK WATER.

Karen Campbell recently attended a Library Garden Party. What a lovely idea - I would love to have been there.

No crime fiction at the Inverness Book Festival? Booooooo. So head on over to the Galway Arts Festival.

And, finally, a rather excellent post from Alistair Braidwood at Scots Whay Hae! about punk rock and short stories. And that reminds me that I still haven't given up on my hope that someone will come out with an anthology of short stories inspired by Ramones songs. Anyone? So many possibilities. What about 53rd and 3rd with its tale of a male prostitute:

"Then I took out my razor blade
Then I did what God forbade"

Or Blitzkrieg Bop's "Shoot'em in the back now"

And the rich implications of Teenage Lobotomy's:
"Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no cerebellum" (which just have to be some of the finest lyrics ever!)

And then of course there's I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement, You're Gonna Kill That Girl, You Should Have Never Opened That Door, Born to Die in Berlin, Cabbies on Crack, Heidi is a Headcase, Too Tough To Die...lots of delicious inspiration there.

Monday Miscellany of Scotland and Shorts

Thanks to all for your kind comments and e-mails following my recent painful experience.

I thought it was time for more photos of Scotland, so the pictures accompanying this blog post are of a gorgeous place called New Lanark.

Get your Allan Guthrie news here in a profile by Jedidiah Ayres of the marvellous Hardboiled Wonderland. And if you'want to get into Al's shorts, here's a handy post for you.

Talking about short stories, there are a couple of new ones up at the Edinburgh Book Festival site - one from Denise Mina and one from Doug Johnstone.

As well as appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Doug Johnstone will also be appearing at Words Per Minute - at Creation Studios, in the Trongate in Glasgow on 1st August at 4pm. Described by Doug as a "fantastic literary crossover club thingy" it's a mix of poetry, prose, film, music and theatre, with performances of 5-10 minutes. There's also a DJ set from Miaoux Miaoux. Sounds good - I think I'll give that a visit. He's also going to be appearing on a crime writing panel being chaired by Ian Rankin at the Portobello Book Festival on 10th October at 2pm. More details of that when I have them.

And I've mentioned this before, but the lovely people at Glasgow based Cargo Publishing have a rather excellent sounding short story project - The Year of Open Doors - out on 27th July - with stories from Doug Johnstone and Alan Bissett amongst others. I'm not sure how many will have a crime element (if any), but I always love trying out short stories.

A couple of reviews of Philip Kerr's IF THE DEAD RISE NOT - one from Tampa Bay Online and one from the Toronto Star. And a lovely reviewlet of Chris Ewan's most excellent GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO LAS VEGAS.

Fancy a signed first edition of Conan Doyle's A STUDY IN SCARLET? Have a spare £400,000? Sorry, I've unfortunately misplaced my wallet - guess I'll have to give that one a miss.

Craig Sisterson over at New Zealand's Crime Watch blog has an interview with Liam McIlvanney and one with Craig Russell.

And, finally, in my Google Alert for Scottish author Alice Thompson, Polishing Peanuts, popped up. I have no idea if it's the same Alice Thompson that the blogger mentions, as I can't find the piece he is referring to online, but I thought it was a lovely post so I'm linking to it anyway.

His experience in Uganda, mirrors my own in the villages in Alaska to some extent. The students there were so bright and funny and creative, I wish they had access to things that I take for granted - gigs, theatre, cinema, being able to go and hear authors talk about their books, go to a comedy show or visit a museum. They put on a wonderful arts festival while I was there and they entertained me no end. If I ever win the lottery I'd love to repay the favour and send over a couple of bands, some authors and a theatre company. That would be fun.

Fancy A Scottish Crime Festival?

Several reviews of Scottish authors/books today. First of all, Shirley McKay's FATE AND FORTUNE, one of Christopher Brookmyre's A SNOWBALL IN HELL which concludes that it might be style over substance but it's hard to dislike, and a very positive review of Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE.

Time Out's Edinburgh Festival Guide has an interview with Ian Rankin. The Guide can be downloaded here. And, talking of festivals, here's more on the new Unbound strand at the Edinburgh Book Festival. In addition, Christopher Brookmyre will be appearing at the SeptembAyr festival. And I've mentioned this before but just a reminder that my lovely wee son, and the apple of his granny's eye, Chris Ewan will be appearing at the Lowdham Book Festival tomorrow.

And I have it on good authority that the Wigtown Book Festival will have a big crime fiction element, which is great news - a Scottish crime fiction convention sounds great. It's due to be held at the end of September/beginning of October 2011. So, dear reader, who would you like to see there?

Crimewatch has an interview with Stuart MacBride.

Paul Johnston's latest Matt Wells book - MAPS OF HELL - is due out in the UK in August. I do wish he'd bring back near-future Edinburgh PI Quintilian Dalrymple - I loved that series.

The 'psychic painting' owned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that I mentioned in an earlier post fetches AU$72,000.

Alexander McCall Smith and Tilda Swinton have been asked to inspire pupils.

And, finally, joyriding art installation is a target for thieves and vandals.

If You Ask Me, We Need More Donkeys

An interview with Stuart MacBride over at HorrorScope.

Ian Rankin says that he wants a more hands-on role in film/TV casting in the future.

An in-depth look at Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series.

A Sherlock Holmes conference - if you missed it, you need to wait 16 years for the next one.

Craig Russell is one of this year's Waterstone's Fresh Blood campaign.

A reminder of the book launch for Tony Black's new book LONG TIME DEAD, this Thursday.

A review of Alexander McCall Smith's DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB, while the Botswanan MmegiOnline finds his author photo 'a bit jarring'.

Canongate and the University of Dundee create a living archive.

The cover of Allan Guthrie's SLAMMER wins an award. And the words inside should get one too, in my opinion.

The List reviews Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE.

Today brought a nice wee haul of books - Ken Bruen's SANCTUARY, Angela Choi's HELLO KITTY MUST DIE (which starts with the wonderful first line "It all started with my missing hymen") and REQUIEMS FOR THE DEPARTED a collection of short stories inspired by Irish mythology and featuring such luminaries as Ken Bruen, Stuart Neville, Tony Black, Adrian McKinty, Maxim Jakubowski and Brian McGilloway. It's edited by Gerard Brennan and Mike Stone and looks great. Ah, isn't it wonderful to have such a decision to make about what to read next?

And, finally, apparently submitting a crime novel for the Booker is seen as akin to "putting a donkey into the Grand National". Harrrrummmmmph. Bring on the donkeys, I say.

And here's a gratuitous picture of a couple of donkeys.

Tata.

Book Launches and Big Lunches

Iain Banks and Neil Forsyth at the Dundee Literary Festival this week, while Chris Ewan is at the Lowdham Book Festival on July 1st. And I've mentioned this event before but here's another reminder for the launch of Tony Black's new Gus Dury book on Thursday 1st July. I just received this book and am itching to get stuck into it.

A report from Fife Council on their ladykillers events last week.

Alexander McCall Smith opens a cancer service in the Scottish Highlands.

STB's Weekly Blog looks at Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels, and a transcript of the NPR audio review of IF THE DEAD RISE NOT.

A review of Alice Thompson's THE EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE. This one sounds fascinating. And she'll be at Blackwells in Edinburgh on June 29th.

A long-missing painting of ghostly soldiers, once owned by Arthur Conan Doyle goes on sale this week.

Caroline Dunford will be appearing at Edinburgh's Portobello Library on June 30th.

And, finally, anyone for some f-f-f-f-fava beans? (Thanks (I think) to @stevemosby for the link).