Today I'm delighted to welcome
LIN ANDERSON
to share her BEST OF CRIME ...
... AUTHORS
William McIllvanney. Willie began Tartan Noir with his Laidlaw Trilogy. Suddenly here were our voices, our locations, our thoughts about the social fabric of Scotland in the voices of the people who walked the streets of Glasgow. The greats who followed, like Ian Rankin and Val McDermid pay tribute to the man who began it all. Willie’s trilogy is to my mind, and many others, one of the finest things in modern (crime) fiction, and definitely in the Chandler and Simenon class.
... FILMS/MOVIES
It has to be To Kill a Mockingbird. A coming of age story, a mystery, a crime, a trial, a social commentary. It has everything and all told through the innocent eyes of a child. And even better, that child is a girl.
... TV DRAMAS
Sons of Anarchy… Hamlet on a Harley Davidson. Can watch this multiple times. In fact it so influenced me, I wrote Sins of the Dead starring HD female riders and also bought a Harley. I also loved Line of Duty. As a writer of forensic novels, it’s so easy to spot the glaring errors, but the characters were fabulous.
... FICTIONAL KILLERS
At the moment it’s definitely Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer in Killing Eve. She kills with abandon and yet, you like her! And you don’t want her caught. An obvious psychopath with no empathy, yet she catches us out all the time, when she pretends to have some. (Like in the latest season when she befriends a young badly burned boy in hospital…I won’t mention how that ends.)
... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
I was a big reader of P.D. James as a teenager and a definite fan of Adam Dalgliesh. On screen I loved Cagney and Lacey. It was way ahead of it time, and in my opinion still to be beaten. A wonderful example of how the chemistry of female duos work, which inspired the relationship between Rhona and Chrissy in the Rhona MacLeod novels. After that it has to be Jack Laidlaw, philosopher and detective.
... MURDER WEAPONS
I liked arsenic in an alcopop bottle, so I featured it in Blood Red Roses where I killed the bride-to-be on her hen night.
... DEATH SCENES
The small push at the top of the Edinburgh Crags when a husband murdered his wife after looking round to check no one was about. However four folk looking through Camera Obscura on the Royal Mile saw it happen!
... BLOGS/WEBSITES
Depends on the book. As my protagonist moves round Scotland, I like to research the area thoroughly on line plus spend time there. The current book is set on the Isle of Skye, so everything I needed to know about Skye, using the Mountain Rescue Team, Climbing and walking sites, the Skye and Lochaber Police Twitter Feed!
... WRITING TIPS
Keep the secret as long as possible, regardless of its size. That’s what keeps people turning the pages. And remember, it’s all about character. Readers stay with a series because they want to be with the characters.
About LIN ANDERSON
Lin Anderson is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter best known for her bestselling series featuring forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod of which there are currently fourteen novels, four of which have been long listed for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year, with Follow the Dead being a 2018 finalist.
Lin is co-founder of the international crime writing festival Bloody Scotland which takes place annually in Stirling, Scotland, mid September.
Find Lin Anderson on her website and on Twitter - @Lin_Anderson
About TIME FOR THE DEAD
Publisher's description
When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod returns to her roots on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, a chance encounter in the woods behind a nearby activities centre leads her to what seems to be a crime scene, but without a victim. Could this be linked to a group of army medics, who visited the centre while on leave from Afghanistan and can no longer be located on the island?
Enlisting the help of local tracker dog Blaze, Rhona starts searching for a connection.
As the island’s unforgiving conditions close in, Rhona must find out what really happened to the group in Afghanistan, as the consequences may be being played out in brutal killings on Skye . . .
Time for the Dead was published by Macmillan on 8 August 2019
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