Chaired by Russel Mclean

The west of Scotland has welcomed a number of the greats in crime fiction: William McIlvanney's Laidlaw series, Denise Mina’s Garnethill, and Frederic Lindsay’s Brond to name but three. In The Wild, Wild West, we dive into contemporary crime fiction with three up-and-coming authors adding to that esteemed reputation for quality crime in Glasgow and the surrounding areas.

Diarmid MacArthur’s Dress to Kill follows DCI Grant McVicar as he investigates the murder of a young woman in the changing room of a local supermarket; Leela Soma’s Murder at the Mela follows Glasgow’s first Asian DI, Alok Patel, who is assigned to a potentially racially-motivated murder in Kelvingrove Park following the Mela festival; Robbie Morrison’s Edge of the Grave is a dark historical tale set in 1932 – when the son-in-law of a wealthy shipbuilder is found in the River Clyde, Inspector James Dreghorn is called up.

They join fellow crime writer Russell D. McLean to discuss their respective work and just why Scotland is home to such great crime writing.

Tickets are FREE.

All events in The Scottish Books Long Weekend will be recorded and will be uploaded to the Publishing Scotland YouTube channel with closed captions on Tuesday 15 June.

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Diarmid MacArthur is an author based in Renfrewshire, where he has run his optician business for over 30 years. He is also a musician, poet and rower. His books include Drown for Your Sins – set in his home territory of the West of Scotland - and Dress for Death.

Leela Soma was born in Madras, India, and now lives in Glasgow. She has published three novels, short stories, two collections of poetry, and a chapbook. Her poems have been published in Gutter, The Blue Nib, Anthropocene, Black Bough Poems, The Glasgow Review of Books and many others. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020 and has been appointed Scriever 2021 for the Federation of Writers, Scotland. Some of her work reflects her dual Scotland-India heritage. 

Robbie Morrison was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, and grew up in the Renton, Coatbridge, Linwood and Houston. On both sides, his family connection to shipbuilding in Glasgow and the surrounding areas stretches back four generations and is a source of inspiration for the Jimmy Dreghorn series. Edge Of The Grave is his first novel.

Russell D McLean is the author of several crime novels. He also works as a freelance development editor with a variety of publishers, and has taught workshops on writing genre fiction for writer's groups and university courses. Before writing full time, he worked for over a decade as a bookseller.

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This event is part of the Scottish Books Long Weekend 10 to 13 June. For the full programme, see BooksfromScotland.com/scottish-books-long-weekend/.

Books are available to buy from our bookshop partners Bookshop.org.