"Baby baby baby, you've got good taste"

Pre-weekend Cramps.

Books4Spain talks to Quintin Jardine.

BCF reviews Stuart MacBride's BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD, Random Writings reviews Philip Kerr's FIELD GRAY, Fresh Meat looks at M C Beaton's DEATH OF A KINGFISHER, Crime Pieces reviews Peter May's THE BLACK HOUSE, and Page Turners reviews Alexander McCall Smith's THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB.

Talking of Alexander McCall Smith, his 44 SCOTLAND STREET will be on BBC4 Radio 4 from Monday 30th April.

More on the Margins Book and Music Festival.

Len Wanner at The Crime of It All interviews Paul Johnston. And an interview with Bill Kirton.

Win a copy of Val McDermid's THE RETRIBUTION courtesy of the lovely people at Crimespree Magazine.

Finally, the museum on which I based the one in OLD DOGS had a bronze head stolen. How do you sneak out of a museum with a bronze head that's approximately a foot square and weighing 13kilos? I know the price of scrap metal is on the increase, but I work that out to be roughly £40.

"I'm the maddest road rattler that you ever done met"

Title courtesy of The Cramps, as usual.

This weekend's cinematic viewing was Martha Marcy May Marlene which was a very creepy and unsettling film about a girl who escapes from a cult. Her experience is shown in an understated way through flashbacks. John Hawkes is fantastic as the charismatic and chilling Manson-like cult-leader Patrick (he also played the scary Uncle Teardrop in Winter's Bone) who renames all his female acolytes in a very simple but effective way of showing who's in control.

Paul Johnston is interviewed over at The Crime of It All.

Russel McLean teams up with ShortbreadStories to help the Million For a Morgue campaign.

Crime Pieces reviews Peter May's THE BLACK HOUSE, The World According To Who reviews Ian Rankin's DOORS OPEN, Eurocrime reviews Val McDermid's THE RETRIBUTION and Music And More reviews Ray Banks' WOLF TICKETS.

Ian Rankin says that authors need publishers.

A Val McDermid short story takes to the stage. And Val herself will be appearing at the Scarborough Literature Festival in April.

Another Festival - this one in July in King's Lynn and featuring Philip Kerr. And Stuart MacBride will be talking about BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD in Perth on March 13th.

Declan Burke talks to Allan Guthrie, amongst others, on ebook pricing.

Frantic Friday

A short post today as I have a conference this weekend. Thanks again to those who donated prizes for our raffle. It's lovely of you and I'm going to hug you all when I see you. The organisation is staffed by volunteers (250 volunteers to each member of staff!) and we rely a lot on donations.

Anyway, Scottish crime fiction news:

Lots of good stuff at the Margins Book Festival, and The List also has an interesting debate between Helen Fitzgerald, Alan Bissett and Allan Wilson, on the current literary landscape.

Crime fiction is the most borrowed genre in Britain's libraries.

Maxine at Petrona with one of her extremely thoughtful reviews of Peter May's THE BLACKHOUSE.

Is there no end to Ian Rankin's talents? Hear him in the panel game The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Mark Billingham and Paul Johnston in conversation at Crime Culture.

Crimefest panels are done, and moderators are being contacted about their panels. Woohoo! I'm moderating one called Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know and the initials of my panelists are HF, DL, DS and MM ;o)

More Psychogeographic Psychos

Another little outtake from my psychogeographic tour across Glasgow. This is all the stuff which, sadly, can't make it into my essay but which were the best bits for me.

I should say at the outset that Glasgow's East End has a bit of a reputation. It has the lowest life expectancy in Europe, some of the worst gang violence, and it has the horrific Bellgrove Hotel (I once read a brilliant review of the place that said "First class place, close to all local amenities - Barlinnie (jail), Haddows (off licence) and Glasgow Royal Infirmary (nearest A&E department). There is also a lot that is good about the East End. It has a lot of character, some great people, and some excellent community projects. However, the fact remains that it is not a place that someone would normally send a tourist. Hence my surprise when coming back into the city centre on my psychogeographic journey, I had the following encounter.

The bus was fairly empty - a few people at the front and myself and one other person towards the back. Just opposite the aforementioned Bellgrove Hotel a guy got on. He was wearing a San Francisco 49ers shirt and shorts. My interest was piqued. You don't see that very often in Glasgow.

My interest was further piqued when he said to the driver in an American accent "How much is it to get my black ass out of here?" Incidentally, he was not black. He then had a conversation with the driver about not having slept for 48 hours. I pulled out my notebook. I had a feeling this was going to be gold dust for a postmodernist flâneur such as myself. He came swaggering towards the back of the bus, saying "How you doin'?" to various people as he passed them. They all ignored him. He didn't seem bothered.

As he passed me he stopped and said "Girl, green is your colour. Damn." (I was wearing a turquoise coat, he wasn't referring to the colour of my face." I smiled politely. When accosted by the Bus Nutter I try not to speak. It only eggs them on.

He sat down behind me and engaged the guy opposite in conversation with a classic opening gambit. "Women are crazy, huh?" The guy gave the perfect comeback (albeit one possibly fraught with danger) "Ah dinnae ken, pal. Ah'm gay."

It did not stop the American bloke. "How long until we're into the city?"

"Two minutes, pal."

"Two minutes? I bet you £2 it won't be two minutes...it'll be four."

The gay guy catches my eye. He taps his head in the ubiquitous sign for 'we've got a right bugs case here'. I grin and turn back to making my notes.

"So, is it right that Glasgow is the murder capital of the world?" This, in a very loud voice.

"Naw, pal, just Europe," says the gay guy.

The American bloke is silent for a few seconds, apparently taking this in. Then, right behind my left ear I hear "Oh-oh, she's taking notes." I have apparently been rumbled, but continue taking notes, just to pretend I'm not. "I knew this guy once - good looking guy, not as good looking as me though, ya know? So, we're out and I tell him to watch my style, take notes. I hope you're not taking notes?"

I turn round. "No, no, I'm just writing myself a reminder," I say, trying not to sound guilty.

"Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, I love your accent." This is one of the reasons I do not like to speak to the Bus Nutter. "You wanna go for a drink?"

"Um, no thank you."

Of course, it is too late. Me and the gay guy are now in the loop. "You sure? I'm just in from the US and I'm jetlagged, can't sleep, totally wired."

"No, you're OK, but thanks."

"I mean, I know you're a little older than me...what are you? 34? 35?"

"I'm 49."

"49? Man. You're looking hot, babe."

"Errrrr...thanks. I think. But I think that's the jetlag."

He nods philosophically and turns to the gay guy. "I suppose you're waiting for me to ask you out now?"

I ask him why, if he's just landed, he's ended up in the East End of Glasgow. Apparently, someone has told him that the best fish and chips are in the East End and so he had to have some. The gay guy and I tell him he needs to be careful about who he listens to. Eventually, having tried to get me to go for a drink one more time he gets off the bus with a cheery high five for us and a cheery wave for everyone else on the bus.

The gay guy and I watch him swagger off. "Do you think he'll be OK?" I say, worriedly. "Aye. I think it's Glasgow you need to worry about, rather than him."

Anyway, Scottish crime fiction news:

Ooooooh! Paul Johnston has a new book out, and you can read the first chapter of THE SILVER STAIN here.

Val McDermid and a host of other luminaries part of The Library Book.

Alexander McCall Smith's Yuletide festivities.

Guitars and Life reviews Charles Cumming's THE TRINITY SIX.

Sometimes, the brilliant Douglas Lindsay is a miserable ****. And sometimes, he gives us treats.

How do you fancy a nasty story for the 12 days of Winter? Then check out this from Stuart MacBride, with a new story every day.

Ian Rankin at the University of Sussex in January.

A wonderful post from Aly Monroe about Spain's Robbed Children.

Those lovely paper sculptures again.

And, finally, what Glasgow swapped for the new pandas at Edinburgh Zoo.

Custard, Coathagers and Catwoman

I am currently down at my parents (alternately being spoiled and being treated as though I have regressed to being a six year old). This is a very useful visit, as well as being lovely, because the screenplay I have just finished is set in a retirement community. And my parents live in one. Handy, eh? I'm currently editing the screenplay so some of the things that have happened over the last couple of days may well find their way into it. Today, my mum took me to the bingo (having first said "You just mark off the numbers on the card with a cross." Gee, thanks mum.)

Sadly, we didn't win the cucumber, the gravy granules or the mint sauce (or the tin of Ambrosia Creamed Rice - which seemed to be the hot prize of the day, given the oohs and aahs that accompanied its announcement), but we did come home with this little haul (the custard powder and the coat-hanger were my winnings, the rest of the booty was down to my mum).

I also made the shock discovery that my mum once walked out of a Beverley Sisters concert in the 1950s "because of the foul language". Yes, this bevy of apple-cheeked beauties. No wonder my mum doesn't like my books... I have no idea what they said, sadly my mum can't remember.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense, and on to the Scottish crime fiction news.

First of all, Ray Banks is interviewed by Allan Guthrie over at Criminal-E. And here's Mr Banks again, at Guilty Conscience.

While on the subject of Luca Veste's excellent Guilty Conscience website, she's not Scottish, but she lives in Sunderland, so that's close enough, here's an interview with Julie Morrigan. If you like dark and warped, do read her stuff.

Over at I Meant To Read That - a review of Douglas Lindsay's THE LONG MIDNIGHT OF BARNEY THOMSON.

A bit of a half-hearted review of Christopher Brookmyre's WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED,

Pictures of all the Ian Rankin art sculptures. Aren't they brilliant?

Alexander McCall Smith on tackling rabies.

The Rap Sheet has a piece on Paul Johnston.

Week two of the Telegraph's Kate Atkinson discussion.

Finally, what all the well-dressed assassins are wearing these days. Au revoir, mes petits choufleurs.

CrimeFest Panel Report 2 - Bringing Up Baby

Following earlier posts, here's the second panel report.

This one was Bringing Up Baby - Creating Believable Sleuths. Panellists were Paul Johnston, L C Tyler, Christopher Wakling and Anne Zouroudi, moderated by Zoë Sharp. I always like to see the panels Zoë moderates - they are good fun and she asks excellent questions.

Zoë asked whether heroes need to be heroic. Len Tyler said that the realism of the character is in the flaws but that sometimes the trend is to make characters a little too flawed. Anne Zouroudi says that she has problems because her protagonist is not a typical detective, so it's difficult to give him flaws. She commented that it was Sherlock Holmes' flaws which make him interesting and that flaws are essential in any believable character. She agreed, though, that some flaws are becoming a bit of a cliche these days. Despite their flaws, the best protagonists have a good side which redeems them. Christopher Wakling said that he likes relatively mundane flaws and made everyone laugh when he said that his character's flaw is that he needs a haircut (I really want to read the book after that!) The character is frustrated and bored and it is those things which power the book. Paul Johnston said that the flaws needn't be in the detective but in the context he or she finds themselves in. For example, with Alex Mavros, what drives him as a missing persons specialist is the fact that he lost his brother.

Zoë asked Anne how much setting moulds the character. She said that Hermes is a figure of justice and he grew out of her interest in Greek mythology and Jungian psychology, and he grew out of the landscape. He was based on a Greek bank manager.

Zoë then asked Christopher Wakling what the differences were when setting a character in a historical time period. He said that he did loads of research on the slave trade in Bristol, wrote a really long book, and then cut all the research out. He looked for the universal things.

Len was asked how he arrived at his narrative style of having two first person narrators. He said that he did it because he enjoyed reading it in other people's books and it gives him the opportunity to use different typefaces. It also gives two completely different viewpoints.

Zoë asked the panel how they go about creating a character. Chris said that it was an organic process and he adds to the character as he goes through the book. He commented that he teaches creative writing and he has a 150 question questionnaire which he gives to students asking about their character. He'd never done that himself and, when he was bored one day, he started to do it for his own protagonist and realised that he didn't know half the answers. Anne felt that to do that would kill a story dead. She starts out with a glimpse of a character. She said that, when creating a character, you have a role for them and that, for example, if you're creating a baddie, you wouldn't have a woman who bakes cup-cakes (I actually think that would be a good idea). She then writes the details in afterwards.

Paul was of the opinion that you have to leave gaps for the reader, and he doesn't tend to use a lot of physical description. In the first book of his Matt Wells series, the character is completely driven by revenge after being drpped by his agent an publisher (written after Paul was dropped by his agent and publisher...). Len said that you need to keep track of the characters somehow, especially when writing a series.

Zoë asked Len what he did to create conflict. He said that he once read a book about writing which said 'no conflict = no story'. He said that he has conflict between Ethelred and Elsie and that Ethelred also has a conflict with modernity.

The next question for the panel was whether they had ever painted themselves into a corner. Paul said that there will always be someone who sends you an e-mail to tell you where you have gone wrong. The important thing for his is to show the effect of the story on the character. Anne said that it is important not to get bored with the things that you have made your touchstones, and that those details can be very comforting to readers. Chris Wakling said that he writes standalones and so creates new characters each time. He once wrote a dog into a book with a very small part, but when he decided to change its name, the dog suddenly became very important and he had to change things.

Zoë then asked how the panellists chose their character names. Chris said that he had a character called Harry Brinkman but nobody got the significance (I have to confess that I am one of those nobodies :o) ). Len said that in his latest book, all his characters are named after fictional characters in crime fiction, and no-one has noticed. However, in the middle of those is the random name of someone who won a character named after them in an auction. Zoë said that she had this problem too - one of her books has a character called Frances Neagley, who won this at an auction. However, Frances Neagley also bid to be a character in a Lee Child novel and Zoë said that she'd been accused of stealing the name!

Paul Johnston said that, when he was thinking of a name for his Quintillian Dalrymple character, he wanted a protagonist with the initials QED. The best he could come up with for the E, when sitting in a pub with a friend, was Eric. So Quint doesn't have a middle name after all! Mavros is Greek for 'black' and is a play on noir, and for Matt Wells he wanted a bland, uncontroversial name. However, soon after the book came out he received an e-mail from a Guardian journalist called Matt Wells.

Zoë asked whether people ever spotted something about themselves (either rightly or wrongly) in the panellists' books. Anne Zouroudi said that she sometimes borrows physical descriptions from people, but that she doesn't know anyone interesting enough to be a full character. Paul said that he once killed his ex-wife in a novel and she didn't notice. He has also used other real people - heavily (or not so heavily) disguised. Len said that he once wrote a hideous caricature of a female novelist he didn't like. However, as he was writing the book, he got to like the real life person better and, as a result, the character in the book became nicer too. Zoë said that she has run out of people she doesn't like and now takes requests (note to self, never piss Zoë off).

The panellists were then asked how much of themselves is in their characters. Anne said that her son thinks she is Hermes to a T, and sometimes it's subconscious. Paul said that with Matt Wells he was definitely sending himself up, as well as his ex-publisher and ex-agent.

Zoë asked what annoyed the panellists in characters they read. Paul said that he can't stand snobbery and class - so one of his least favourite characters is Lord Peter Wimsey. Chris Wakling said that he dislikes American Psycho - not because he's a nasty character, but because he can read someone's business card across a room. Len recently read a book with a five year old narrator who acts like an adult. Anne's pet peeve was a general one - policemen who are grateful to members of the public who solve crimes and are quite happy to give them all sorts of information. She said that in real life, policemen try to keep the general public away from crime scenes. Zoë said that she dislikes characters who get things wrong. One of Dan Brown's characters escapes in a Range Rover and to Zoë it was clear that Dan Brown had never been near a Range Rover, let alone driven one.

There, I think that's it. A couple more to go over the next few days.

Give Me The Blue M&Ms and Some Dancing Girls

First of all - huge congratulations to Russel McLean on his Shamus nomination.

How health problems inspired Paul Johnston.

You can now check if you're a beneficiary of Conan Doyle's will.

A few reviews, starting with one of Louise Welsh's play, MEMORY CELLS. Next, Rhapsody in Books reviews Ian Rankin's THE NAMING OF THE DEAD, Permanently Weird on Irvine Welsh's REHEATED CABBAGE, Musings and Wanderings enjoyed Philip Kerr's A GERMAN REQUIEM, Milo's Rambles calls Caro Ramsay's DARK WATER 'astounding' and a double-header of Peter May reviews from Cicero's Children.

More on the Wigtown Book Festival line-up with Ian Rankin and Val McDermid amongst others.

An interesting post in the Huffington Post from Otto Penzler on why PIs can't be noir.

And, finally, are writers the new rock and roll stars? Is Ian Rankin going to throw a TV out of a window? Is Allan Guthrie going to want an Iggy Pop style rider? (I particularly like page 15). And, on the back of his Shamus nomination, is Russel McLean going to go all LL Cool J and demand a bottle of baby oil and 2 dozen thornless roses? So, dear reader, what would your rider be?

How Can It Be Sunday Evening Already?

This weekend's cinematic viewing consisted of JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY and WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE - both of which I can heartily recommend.

JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY is a Danish thriller - a sort of film noir version of the romantic comedy WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. At the start of the film we are introduced to the main character in a very SUNSET BOULEVARD way as he lies on the pavement in the rain, his blood mixing with the rainwater. Jonas - a family man with an ordinary, boring life as husband, father and crime-scene photographer is involved in a car crash which puts millionaire's daughter Julia into a coma. Jonas goes to the hospital to visit her and Julia's family assume he is Sebastian - the boyfriend she met in Hanoi (and who - this happens in the first minute so no spoilers here - she may possibly have shot, before fleeing the scene). When Julia wakes up, she's lost her sight and can't remember anything about her trip to the Far East and Jonas allows the deception to continue. Very twisty (very, very twisty, with lots of little tricks and traps), nightmarish and dark.

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is also dark, but it's also very funny. Achingly, bitingly funny. Eleven-year old Dawn Wiener - geeky and with absolutely no fashion sense suffers through Junior High where she is called Wiener Dog and Dogface and where her locker is the only one decorated with insults, amongst rows of pristine lockers. At home, Dawn's nerdy older brother is only interested in getting to a good college, and her perfect little sister spends all her time pirouetting in a tutu. And guess which daughter their mother blatantly obviously prefers. And then, to make matters worse, Dawn gets a crush on a hunky (but terribly thick) High School student, and is sure she has a chance with him. Unsettling, touching and bitterly funny, this is like a darker version of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.

So, with the Sunday film reviews over, back to the book news.

First of all, the lovely Shari Low of the Daily Record reviews new books by Paul Johnston, Lin Anderson and Caro Ramsay.

Talking of Paul Johnston, Martin Edwards has a post on his excellent blog, describing Johnston - quite rightly - as "a writer of genuine quality." I would dearly love to see a new Quintillian Dalrymple book.

A couple of videos from the Edinburgh International Book Festival - first of all Ian Rankin on why he loves the festival, and then an interview with Quintin Jardine.

Will any of the international acclaim, plaudits and finance for a film version of Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe make its way back to Botswana?

A couple more reviews - firstly a couple for M C Beaton as Spinetingler reviews DEATH OF A WITCH, and Diary of an Anxious Reader reviews THERE GOES THE BRIDE. And 100 Degrees at Midnight on Philip Kerr's A QUIET FLAME.

More from Aly Monroe on the real life inspiration for Peter Cotton.

And finally, as I settle down to watch the third and final of the new Sherlock Holmes TV series, here's Steven Moffat on Arthur Conan Doyle's villains. And, apparently, Sherlock Holmes' style is the latest thing amongst fashionistas. So does this mean I should go out and buy a pipe?

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.

P Is For...

Pat McIntosh - author of six books in a series featuring Gilbert Cunningham, a young notary in 15th century Glasgow. The first book in the series - THE HARPER'S QUINE - introduces us to Gil as he investigates the murder of a young woman in the new Glasgow Cathedral. Later books in the series are set in Glasgow University, Stirling, Linlithgow, an almshouse, and a coalmine amongst other locations. "With a historian's eye for detail and a novelist's flair for plot and characterization, McIntosh provides an intelligent, authentic, and suspenseful historical whodunit that will please the most demanding of Ellis Peters' fans." - Booklist

Paul Johnston - Paul Johnston is the author of three very different series - the Alex Mavros novels, set in Greece, featuring a half-Greek, half-Scottish private investigator; the Matt Wells novels which feature a crime novelist as protagonist; and the Quintilian Dalrymple series (my favourite of Johnston's series) which are set in a dystopian Edinburgh in the near future (2020s). The protagonist is an ex-policeman turned private investigator who's not best loved by the authorities. Funny, clever and great storytelling. And it's been far too long since the last one. "In a series of highly original books set a couple of decades in the future, Paul Johnston has created a portrait of the post-Enlightenment city-state of Edinburgh, whose inhabitants' drab lives are controlled by a secretive little group of dour Guardians. Despite the grimness of the setting, the books are always entertaining, in part because of the unsquashably rebellious personality of Johnston's maverick sleuth, Quint Dalrymple, and the sardonic humour which enlivens the narrative." - Sunday Telegraph

Peter May - as well as writing for TV, Peter May has written standalone thrillers, plus a series featuring a half-Scottish, half-Italian former forensic scientist called Enzo MacLeod who lives in France and solves cold cases. Peter May is probably best known, however, for his China set thrillers which pair detective Li Yan and pathologist Margaret Campbell. "An accomplished pulse-racer of a novel. This book is much more than just a run of the mill whodunit, think Silence of the Lambs crossed with Quincy, with a bit of the Lonely Planet's Guide to Beijing thrown in." -Daily Record (about chinese Whispers).

Peter Turnbull - Peter Turnbull is the author of over 35 novels. He is best known for the police procedurals set in Glasgow's P Division - a fictitious division similar to Ed McBain's 87th Precinct. Like McBain's books, the stories don't focus on one or two characters, but the entire division. Sadly, he stopped writing this series in the late 1990s. He also writes a police procedural series set in York featuring Chief Inspector Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich, as well as a number of standalone novels. "Our own mean streets done to a turn by Turnbull" - The Times. "Grips like the devil’s forceps" - The Observer.

Philip Kerr - Philip Kerr has written six books in the Bernie Gunther series - Bernie is a hard-boiled detective in Berlin in the 1930s who specialises in finding missing persons. Kerr has also written a number of other thrillers set in the past, present and future, as well as childrens' books under the name P B Kerr. His most recent Bernie Gunther novel - THE DEAD RISE NOT - recently won the RBA international prize for crime fiction - the world's most lucrative crime fiction prize (125,000 Euros - nice!) "Kerr builds his story like an apple strudel, lots of layers that peel away to reveal a shocker based on fact that threatens everybody from Peron down to Gunther...A Quiet Flame is an intelligent, smartly written thriller with a touch of reality that makes its chills even more chilly" - Pittsburgh Post Gazette