The Crime Warp

Arvon Crime Writing Course  Tutors: Val McDermid  and Andrew Taylor Guest Tutor: Allan Guthrie July 2013   Moniack Mhor Inverness This course was brilliant.  After a personally difficult year the combination of expert guidance from the tutors, the relaxing environment and the support and stimulus of being with other aspiring crime writer's, was uplifting.  As a result, barely a day has gone by when I haven't written, edited, reread or scribbled down an idea (even when on holiday) - Thanks Val and Andrew and fellow Arvon Criminalites!      Moniack Mhor Our home for the week was a beautiful rustic cottage with an extension to the kitchen and bedrooms.  This shows the Kitchen annex and the upstairs bedrooms and part of the living room.  Below is a separate cottage that housed the tutors, computers and a few of the course members. As you can see the weather was fantastic for the entire week and the sunsets were a...

  Watching You by Michael Robotham If you haven't read Michael Robotham's books yet, you really should.   He is a master of suspense, great, believable characters and a seemingly unending imagination.   Watching you is a scary psychological thriller.  I enjoyed it so much I read it overnight - don't do this - you feel rubbish the next day.      Marnie's husband disappeared without trace a year ago leaving her with their two children and his gambling debts.  The Insurance company won't pay out as he's not considered dead and so Marnie is forced to work as a prostitute to pay her debts.  Meanwhile she is receiving counselling from psychologist Joe O'Loughlin, so when she is suspected of the murder of her pimp she asks Joe for help.  This naturally leads to the involvement of Joe's friend retired cop Vince Ruiz. Michael Robotham Robotham paints his characters in vivid colours and weaves  his plot intricate...

Danny Miller’s first book, Kiss Me Quick, was shortlisted for the New Blood Dagger award in 2011.  The Gilded Edge is his second book, which follows on from the first, with detective Vince Treadwell as the central character, investigating murders during the Swinging Sixties.   Treadwell is an ambitious detective, who is given plenty of latitude by “Mac” his soon to retire boss.  There are two murders in the book – Upper class gambler, drinker and womaniser Johnny Beresford from Belgravia and nurse Marcy Jones, a black single mother and nurse from Notting Hill.  Treadwell’s investigation of the “Blueblood from Belgravia” sees him irresistibly drawn to Beresford’s girlfriend Isabel Saxon-Blane.  She’s convinced that she murdered Beresford, but Treadwell thinks otherwise.  Despite a seemingly neat and tidy answer to the Beresford’s murder emerging and behind the scenes pressure from the still powerful upper class to quietly finish t...

William McIlvanney In Conversation with Ian Rankin               At Harrogate Crime Writing Festival 2013                       When Val McDermid introduced William McIlvanney she described him as  'the most charming man'. .. she could have added humble, funny, intelligent, philosophical, talented, charismatic... but we only had an hour. Ian Rankin in conversation with William McIlvanney Harrogate 2013  In many ways this conversation was the meeting of the Titans: Ian Rankin in the Edinburgh corner and Willie McIlvanney in the Glasgow corner and, for me, it was a privilege.  The atmosphere was relaxed, with plenty of  banter between the two and an obvious mutual respect.  Willie's sense of humour was evident in his many stories : from... meetings with Sean Connery in E...