BEST OF CRIME with Doug Johnstone

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

DOUG JOHNSTONE

for his Fault Lines blog tour

to share his BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

It’s probably a tie between Megan Abbott and James Sallis. Both write brilliant books set around the edges of the crime genre. There’s no better writer of the psychology of women and girls than Abbott, and Sallis’s noir with a heart is the finest storytelling I’ve ever come across. 

... FILMS/MOVIES

I love stories about ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations, so Fargo is just about perfect in that regard. And for tightness of plotting and wonderful dialogue, Reservoir Dogs is hard to beat. 

... TV DRAMAS

I was totally blown away recently by the new Netflix adaptation of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. It was a very loose adaptation, but all the better for that, crazy from start to finish, with brilliant plotting and terrific performances. 

... FICTIONAL KILLERS

Anton Chigurh, the relentless hitman in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men. Just terrifying. 

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES 

Claire DeWitt, written by the utterly brilliant Sara Gran. She’s only produced two books featuring this fucked up detective, The City of the Dead and The Bohemian Highway, but there’s a third one, The Infinite Blacktop, coming this year. DeWitt is a genius creation, damaged in all sorts of ways but also utterly brilliant, these books are existential noir of the highest order. 

... MURDER WEAPONS

Not quite a murder weapon, but in Michel Faber’s Under the Skin, the main character Isserley picks up male hitchhikers in the Scottish Highlands, then drugs them via a hypodermic syringe embedded in the passenger seat of her car activated by a button. To be honest, that’s the best thing that happens to her victims. 

    

... DEATH SCENES

Carlito’s death at the end of Carlito’s Way gets me every time. Proper old-school tragedy right there. 

  

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

I absolutely love The Island Review, since I’m totally obsessed with islands, and it fits in nicely with my latest book Fault Lines. At the moment I’m researching a lot about the death industry, so The Order of the Good Death run by mortician Caitlin Doughty is a brilliant resource. 

... WRITING TIPS

Just get your arse in the seat and write. I mean, it’s utterly banal advice, but it’s really easy to procrastinate forever and do nothing. Don’t worry about getting it right first time, Hemmingway said the first draft of anything is shit, so just get it on the page, and you can sort it out in the many redrafts.  

... WRITING SNACKS

I’m not much of a snacker, I’m afraid. I tend to keep pretty regular hours, writing throughout the day, and it’s mostly gallons of black coffee and the occasional banana. 

About DOUG JOHNSTONE

Doug Johnstone is an author, journalist and musician based in Edinburgh. He's had eight novels published, most recently Crash Land. His previous novel, The Jump, was a finalist for the McIllvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.

Find Doug Johnstone on his website and on Twitter - @doug_johnstone

About FAULT LINES

Publisher's description

In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, in which a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery. On a clandestine trip to The Inch - the new volcanic island - to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body. Surtsey's life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact - someone who claims to know what she's done...

Read a snippet of my review

'I predict that Fault Lines is going to be huge - with its great writing, bold plotting, exceptional characterisation and fascinating background.'

To read the rest of my review, click here.

Fault lines is being published in paperback by Orenda Books on 22 May 2018.

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Follow the Blog Tour

Author's Creative Pursuits - Adèle Geras

Authors are a very creative bunch - and for many of them, this isn’t only with words on the page. From drawing to painting, pottery to needlework, composing to singing, here’s a look at some authors’ creative pursuits.

I am delighted to welcome 

ADÈLE GERAS

AUTHOR OF LOVE OR NEAREST OFFER
(PUBLISHED BY QUERCUS)

TO TALK ABOUT HER LOVE OF KNITTING

Have you always been creative – and not just with words? 

No I'm afraid I've always been useless at art and other pursuits. Can do nothing else with my hands except basic crochet. Don't sew at all....I even have to give my jeans to an alterations shop to be turned up!

When did you first learn to knit and did you start knitting for any particular reason?

I first learned at boarding school, aged 12, and HATED it and was very bad at it, constantly dropping stitches and losing my place in the pattern. I didn't knit again till 1982. That was when I gave up smoking. My mother-in-law, a brilliant knitter, was with us at the time and she taught me to knit all over again, as a way of keeping my hands busy while I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. It worked wonderfully well

How often do you knit and how easy is it to find the time?

I knit every single day that I'm at home. I find the time by doing it in front of the telly. I am addicted to box sets and tv in general and always spend the evenings watching something or other. I would feel very silly indeed just goggling at the screen all on my won with nothing to occupy me. It's as if my knitting ALLOWS me to be a couch potato in the evenings. If I go out in the evening, then of course I miss a day. I don't often knit during the day unless I'm in a non-writing phase. I have special knitting for trains: easy and using small, circular needles. Actually I always use circular needles and can't remember the last time I used straight ones.

Do you do any other arts and crafts?

None whatsoever....unless you count baking! 

Do you think knitting (or the time you spend knitting) helps with your writing and overall wellbeing?  

I'm quite convinced that knitting is tremendously good for mental health. It's very relaxing and therapeutic in all kinds of ways. I love wool and make an effort to use only natural materials. Never synthetic... the handling of the wool and the gazing at wonderful colours is great for allowing you to think. And writing does require a great deal of thought. Overall well-being? Definitely. I would recommend it to anyone. The repetition of a pattern is like a kind of mantra....knit two, purl two, say. Lovely!

What have you knitted recently?

I used to knit garments for myself: Aran, Fairisle, and so forth. Nowadays I do only scarves, shawls, cushion-covers and blankets etc.

Here's a "WORMY" pink cushion which I made at a cushion-making workshop. 

Here's also a beigeish baby blanket I have just finished.

Here's a pink scarf, and also a scarf in three different colours, lime, orange and silver.

Here's a HUGE blanket of squares which was what's called A KNITALONG.

I bought all the wool up front, for the whole blanket, and was then sent a different pattern every fortnight. I loved making that and knowing that there were lots of other people all over the world knitting it at the same time.

Any knitter who's reading this and who isn't already a member of the internet website http://www.ravelry.com is missing out on a lot of fun.

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, ADELE!

About ADELE GERAS

Adèle Geras was born in Jerusalem in 1944, the 7th generation of her mother's family to be born in the city. She was educated at Roedean School and St. Hilda's College,  Oxford, where she read Modern Languages (French and Spanish). She has published more than 100 books for children and young adults and six novels for adults, the latest of which is LOVE OR NEAREST OFFER (Quercus pbk). She lived for 43 years in Manchester but moved to Cambridge in 2010. She has two daughters and four grandchildren.

Find Adèle Geras on her website and on Twitter - @adelegeras

I'm hoping to feature more Authors' Creative Pursuits
on Off-the-Shelf Books in the future. 

So if you're a published author and have a talent for arts and crafts, music, photography, baking or other creative activities, and would like to feature on my blog, please do get in touch!