"Wig hat jack knife, Out on bail for life"

Happy International Women's Day with The Cramps' DAMES, BOOZE, CHAINS AND BOOTS.

Nice prizes for the Bloody Scotland short story competition, and Scottish crime fiction authors provide some short story advice.

Crime Fiction Lover reviews Doug Johnstone's HIT AND RUN, Tricky Nag reviews several Alexander McCall Smiths, while Cozy Library reviews just the one. And a review of Josephine Tey's THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR.

Is the Edinburgh Guide calling Ian Rankin a twit? See Ian in Lochgelly on May 30th. And Mysteries in Paradise reviews the audio version of WITCH HUNT.

Val McDermid on the intellectual property issue, and the value of publishers. And a review of Val's stage play.

And, talking of stage plays, Ian Pattison has written a play about my least favourite politician (and there are plenty of candidates to choose from).

See youse after the weekend. Busy weekend (did I mention I'm in a play, gawd help us?) and then it's off to see the brilliant Killing Joke on Monday.

"You gotta beat it with a stick"

Your weekly Cramps with Garbageman.

Rob Kitchin reviews Philip Kerr's PRAGUE FATALE over at The View From The Blue House, Karen at Eurocrime says that Alexander McCall Smith's PRECIOUS AND THE MONKEYS is a delightful book and Maxine at Petrona calls Peter May's THE LEWIS MAN "a readable mystery with a tragic core".

Val McDermid celebrates her 25th book. Congratulations Val.

Lucy Liu to play Sherlock Holmes' sidekick John...errrrrr...Joan Watson.

Iain Banks at the Hexham Book Festival.

Lots of upcoming events for Alex Gray as she launches her new book A POUND OF FLESH. And both Alex and Caro Ramsay will be at the Lit Up Festival in Renfrewshire at the end of March.

Ian Rankin and Doug Johnstone's Twitter chat is quoted in the Independent.

Why I Really Like This Book features Josephine Tey's MISS PYM DISPOSES.

An excellent and funny article by Anthony Horowitz on whether authors still need publishers.

And, finally, 9 foreign words the English language really needs (hat tip to the lovely Steve Mosby). I must admit, I rather like Pilkkunnussja. I would add a 10th word - one that I was told when I was in Alaska - Slaqtaaq.

Has it really been a week?

Hello, world, I'd forgotten what you look like. You're really rather lovely, aren't you?

Essays are done, but were swiftly followed by more whooshing deadlines. This week's involved me sitting on a bus listening to conversations. This almost led to me getting my wee head kicked in. But it was fun. I also spent two and a half hours going through a large bin of shredded paper trying to piece together something which should never have been shredded. Successfully, I may add. I felt like I was in a really long, very boring version of CSI Glasgow.

Anyway, just a wee Scottish crime fiction update.

Some Sherlock stuff first: a review of the film A GAME OF SHADOWS, and another one, and Steven Moffat on the TV Sherlock (which I'm really enjoying).

Alex Gray, Caro Ramsay, G J Moffat and Craig Robertson at the Pitlochry Festival from January 27th.

A review of Ian Rankin's THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD, one of Kate Atkinson's STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG, Josephine Tey's THE MAN IN THE QUEUE and reviews of Alexander McCall Smith's THE FORGOTTEN AFFAIRS OF YOUTH and THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TO RAIN.

Peter May on the Quercus Couch.

Peter Rozovsky at Detectives Beyond Borders gets into Allan Guthrie's shorts.

A really interesting interview with Louise Welsh about Scotland.

Hopefully, I will get back to normal posting some time soon...maybe by July...

I Ain't Nuthin' But a Gorehound

For authors thinking of signing up for Crimefest, better do so before the end of the month if you want a guaranteed panel. Author slots are almost full. That means I can start programming soon.

More on those Blasted Heathens. And here. And the always brilliant Douglas Lindsay on Blasted Heath. The man is a comedy genius.

An interview with Val McDermid over at Jen's Book Thoughts. And Val will be in Durham this Saturday. How does she ever find the time to go on her favourite walk?

Denise Mina and Ian Rankin in Quebec on 28th October.

Paul Brazill reviews Denise Mina's END OF THE WASP SEASON. A review of Ian Rankin's THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD, Dwell in Possibility reviews Josephine Tey's THE SINGING SANDS. And Talk Books 247 reviews Aly Monroe's ICELIGHT.

More on the Ian Rankin night with the Willard Grant Conspiracy. AndDoug Johnstone interviews Ian Rankin.

Vancouver gets to know Denise Mina's workspace.

Congratulations to Peter May whose THE BLACKHOUSE won France's biggest readers' prize - the CEZAM Prix Litteraire, which voted by 3551 jurors. Très bien, Monsieur May. And, talking of prizes, congratulations to the nominees in the Crime and Thriller category of the National Book Awards, especially Val McDermid and Ian Rankin.

Finally, if you're looking for gifts for your pulp fiction loving female friends, you should hop over to Miss Demeanour's Etsy store. I treated myself and just received this and this in the post today. Gorgeous. I tried to take a photo of me wearing them, but all I got was gratuitous breast shots.

PS - my brain is numb and I couldn't think of a title for this post, hence the totally unrelated Cramps reference.

Just call me Fatty Acids for short

Apologies for the less than regular postings over the last few days. I'm back down at my Mum and Dad's at the moment. It's my Mum's 80th birthday this week, so I have come down to celebrate.

Today, we went to the bingo. Sadly, I didn't make out like a bandit this time. However, I did win a jar of Tesco Value Lemon Curd. That's saved me a whole 22p off my next week's shopping. Well, it would have done if I actually ate lemon curd. Somebody else won the packet of Strawberry Whip. I was gutted. That had my name written all over it (assuming I changed my name to Maltodextrin, Modified Potato Starch, Emulsifiers (Propane-1,2-diol Esters of Fatty Acids, Sunflower Lecithins) , Gelling Agents (Tetrasodium Diphosphate, Disodium Phosphate) which, by the way, I was totally prepared to do.

Anyway, on to the news.

Gillian Galbraith and Shirley McKay at the Inverness Book Festival on Thursday,

A great review of Chris Ewan's THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO VENICE, and the Deseret News calls it 'fun and entrancing'. Finally, an interview with the man himself over at Novel Rocket,

Ian Rankin is supporting the StreetSmart campaign, to help homelessness projects.

Breathing Fiction puts the spotlight on Denise Mina. And an article in the Daily Record on Gordon Ferris.

A review of Nicola Upson's third Josephine Tey novel, TWO FOR SORROW, one of Alexander McCall Smith's THE LOST ART OF GRATITUDE and a review for THE DOG WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.

Lots of Irvine Welsh news: first a trailer for ECSTACY, an interview with Irvine Welsh about the film, and news on FILTH.

Caro Ramsay talks about Jack The Ripper, The Musical, amongst other things.

If you want to help set a world record, and you can be in Edinburgh on August 19th, here's your opportunity.

A post with added itch

This weekend's cinematic viewing: A BITTERSWEET LIFE is a South Korean film set in the Korean underworld in which Sun Woo - a smart, young mob guy - is given the task of checking up on his boss' young girlfriend while the boss is out of town. A really good start - what happens when Sun Woo decides to act morally in an immoral world - but then he turns into some unbelievable Duracell bunny. He's a one man army wearing a cloak of invincibility. Next up was ANIMAL KINGDOM, an Australian crime film (apparently based on a true story). When 17 year old Josh's mother dies of a heroin overdose he turns to his estranged grandmother for help. She takes him in, and he discovers that she might be his gran, but she's no sweet little old lady - instead, she's the matriarch of a violent criminal family, and she's not really bothered when Josh's uncles get him involved. Tense, chilling, and nicely low key. Finally, and most impressively, BALLAST. Set in a depressed part of the Mississippi Delta, Ballast focuses on three marginalised characters - a man whose twin brother has killed himself just before the film starts; the dead man's 12 year old son, who hasn't seen his father for years, and is heading in a dangerous direction; and the boy's mother, who is barely managing to make ends meet. Not much happens and it's shot in a documentary style, but it's a totally gripping film. Completely understated, subtle and nuanced.

In other weekend news - we booked tickets to see Killing Joke in Glasgow next March (yippee!), and I have 27 midge bites (which, given that these are Scottish midges, and the bites have a propensity to evil swelling), means that I am now just one big midge-y bite and I'm trying to restrain myself from clawing myself to death. I even used Avon's Skin-So-Soft before we went out, but the little buggers seem to love it. Either that or I taste so good that they are prepared to risk it. Yes, that's it - I am good meat.

An interview with the lovely Chris Ewan, in which he shares some wonderful and well-deserved news.

Over at the excellent Guilty Conscience blog, Luca Veste has been busy with Scottish crime writers. First of all, an interview with the lovely Chris Ewan, in which he shares some wonderful and well-deserved news, and, just for good measure, a review of Chris' THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM (and yes, for those of you who were wondering, the Isle of Man is a satellite state of Scotland). an interview with Helen Fitzgerald. And a review of her new book THE DONOR.

Talking of Helen Fitzgerald, please don't go and see her stand-up comedy routine.

Tony Black's TRUTH LIES BLEEDING is out in paperback on August 3rd. Here's Tony reading an excerpt.

The Guardian, with an article on Josephine Tey.

Fancy a role in the Edinburgh Fringe production of Alexander McCall Smith's THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BERTIE? Hmmmmm, think I might go for this myself. Are you calm? Yes, yes I am. Enthusiastic? Oh, very. Have a very waggy tail? Ummmmm, no. Is that vital? Are you a Border Collie? Well, no, actually. I'm more like a very out-of-shape St Bernard who's been at the brandy in her little barrel.

Happy one-month birthday to Allan Guthrie's TWO-WAY SPLIT, in which the very accommodating Mr Guthrie does my job and rounds up all the Allan Guthrie news that's fit to print.

John Dingwall interviews M C Beaton.

The Telegraph tells us that, in a menacing world, we flee into thrillers. Condescending, much?

A Scottish Crime Writers' Festival? Yes, please

Peter Guttridge with a report from the Edinburgh Book Festival, including the exciting snippet that Alex Gray and Lin Anderson are planning a crime writers' festival in Scotland. Marvellous. And so, dear reader, who would you like to see on a panel and what would the topic be?

Ian Rankin reviews the Edinburgh Festival. And Lisa Dempster on the British Council's Bookcase Conference.

An excellent piece on Ann Cleeves' Scottish based Shetland quartet.

The Herald reviews Caro Ramsay's DARK WATER (and a headline that needs editing) and Reading Journal enjoyed Nicola Upson's ANGEL WITH TWO FACES, featuring Josephine Tey as detective.

More on the Vic Godard and Irvine Welsh collaboration.

100 Degrees at Midnight reviews IF THE DEAD RISE NOT by Philip Kerr, and an excellent post from Alastair Rickard on Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels. I'll say it again - whatever my Mum says about the internet (or 'the microwave' as she calls it) it's brilliant that people who feel passionate about books take the time to share that passion.

And, a propos of absolutely nothing, I found this story fascinating (hat tip to @ZiggyKinsella). It reminds me of the wonderfully funny LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE by Christopher Moore. I wonder if any serious crime fiction has been written on the same topic - anyone got any thoughts?

No Sex Please, We're Donna's Mum

Crimefactory has an excerpt of Allan Guthrie's forthcoming BLOOD WILL OUT. I'm sorry, but with a cliffhanger like that, forthcoming just isn't good enough - you can't leave me like that, Al. But if you just can't get enough Allan Guthrie (and we hear that complaint so often here in Badsville) you can now download his novella BYE BYE BABY.

A couple of round-ups of Harrogate- first of all, Keith Walters' excellent long and comprehensive summary, secondly, Dagger nominee Craig Robertson's look at the event from the author's perspective.

A review of two Nicola Upson books featuring crime writer Josephine Tey as detective, a reviewlet of Ian Rankin's THE COMPLAINTS, China Rhyming enjoys Lin Anderson's DARK FLIGHT , and a reviewlet in the Telegraph of Irvine Welsh's REHEATED CABBAGE. (I love the bit about Jah Wobble just above it).

Catch Val McDermid at the Independent Woodstock Literary Festival on September 17th. And you can hear Louise Welsh talking about 18th century Scottish adventurer and diplomat George Bogle on Radio 3.

More about the TV version of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie.

Jon Meacham of Newsweek stands up for genre fiction with a great article and a spirited defence. Nice one Jon.

And finally - no sex please, we're British. My mum will be relieved that she can, at last, pick up a book without all that nonsense in it.

Those Scots Get Everywhere

A nice review of Ian Rankin's BLOOD HUNT. And here's the man himself on video talking about DOORS OPEN.

Everyone seems to be reading Kate Atkinson recently. The rather wonderfully named Biblio's Bloggins loves Kate Atkinson's CASE HISTORIES. And the equally marvellously named Tallulah Mankiller reviews WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS and there's another review here. And a final one here.

A nice wee write up for the marvellous LONG TIME DEAD by Tony Black. Novel Readings enjoyed Denise Mina's FIELD OF BLOOD and a review of Nicola Upson's AN EXPERT IN MURDER which features crime writer Josephine Tey as the sleuth.

Talking of Denise Mina, here's an excellent video of her talking at Uddingston Library.

Charles Cumming talks about spies.

Val McDermid is appearing at the Melbourne Writers' Festival at the end of August, along with some other British crime fiction writers.

Campbell Armstrong takes Glasgow detective Lou Perlman to San Francisco.

More on the Unbound strand at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Finally, Scotland's double-decker dead.

And finally finally...that Ramones anthology - Alistair made the brilliant suggestion of having all stories kept under 600 words to reflect the fact that Ramones songs are very short - brilliant idea.