CRIME WRITER WILL THRILL AT TARBERT TALK
AN AWARD winning thriller author whose novels have more twists than the A83 will headline at Tarbert Book Festival.
Investigative journalist Jack Parlabane and his creator, Christopher Brookmyre, 48, first entered Scotland’s consciousness, 20 years ago, in Quite Ugly One Morning which won best first crime novel of the year in 1996.
His latest Parlabane adventure, Black Widow published by Little Brown, has just been awarded the William McIlvanney prize, formerly the Scottish crime book of the year award, at the Bloody Scotland festival last month in Stirling.
Brookmyre says that festival speaking has become an important part of his year but that sometimes the schedules can make his life quite hectic.
‘The advent of digital reading seems to have increased the numbers of people who want to hear authors speak,’ he said, ‘As festivals have grown the number of bookshop events has shrunk.
‘Often my talk will pertain to that year’s novel which is Black Widow but the talk can become more generally about my work, particularly at smaller festivals where people have come to see me because they are curious but may not have read the books.’
Technology has been a great boon for his writing and Brookmyre said: ‘The dictation app on my phone means I can go on long walks and then transcribe the result as soon as I get back.’
‘People in Bothwell must be familiar with seeing me walking around talking into my phone.’
Brookmyre’s writing life took off after Glasgow university when he spent four years, in London, at cinema trade magazine Screen International as a sub-editor. He wrote novels, but failed to find a publisher and says now that they were perhaps too serious. It was when he made the change to a more idiomatic style, found in Quite Ugly One Morning, that he made the breakthrough to a bestseller and it went on to be dramatised with Cold Feet star, James Nesbitt, playing Parlabane.
Brookmyre rates his life so far as an eight out of 10 and said: ‘I have been very fortunate to make a living doing something I love.’
Brookmyre’s talk is at 7.30pm, on Saturday October 29, in the Stonefield Castle Hotel drawing room following a half hour whisky tasting session organised by Springbank, Tickets are a bargain £10 inclusive of both events. Black Widow - a Jack Parlabane psychological thriller is published by Little Brown.