A LADY OF LETTERS
Award-winning crime writer Denise Mina speaks with Rosie Morton about her ground-breaking historical book Rizzio, her peripatetic childhood, and hitting the road with fellow history nerd Frank Skinner
Historical fiction has had a makeover. Casting aside its former anorak status, it is now the genre du jour. It dominates our screens (thank you Peaky Blinders, Poldark and Downton Abbey), and jostles for position on our bookshelves thanks to the literary exploits of Alistair Moffat, Diana Gabaldon and Hilary Mantel. But award-winning crime writer Denise Mina is at the helm of a pithier, pocket-sized revolution: the historical novella.
In a radical re-telling of one of the darkest episodes in our history, the East Kilbride-born author’s Rizzio sheds light on a defining moment in Mary, Queen of Scots’ reign: the brutal murder of her friend and private secretary, David Rizzio, on 9 March 1566.
‘I thought, “This is going to sink without trace”,’ says Denise of her 118-page novella, which is the first in a publishing series by Polygon called Darkland Tales. ‘So, I was very gung-ho about it. I drew a lot of analogies between then and now because the reason Rizzio was killed was because of the debate in the court at the time which was: Should we face England, or should we face Europe?
We think it’s brand new, but that debate has been going on for 600 years.’
Though Denise has mastered the art of fiction – she has had 15 novels published, was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame and has scooped up countless awards, including the MacIlvanney Prize in 2017 and 2019 – Rizzio required a different approach with extensive historical research. Indeed, long editorial debates were had over such minute details as how far the cobbling went down the Royal Mile in the 16th century.
For Denise, writing Rizzio was less about exploring a strategic political murder, more a chance to unravel how, in a time where hungry crowds jeered at executions and dead men were dug up to stand trial, Mary survived.
‘Part of the book is about what we in Scotland make of our history. What actually changed the constitution of Scotland was the kindness of an old woman,’ explains Denise, talking of Lady Huntly, the 53-year-old that masterminded the queen’s escape. ‘History is written as people attacking each other and wanting money and power, but you never hear about world-changing moments of kindness.’
Denise Mina: The award-winning crime writer and playwright is a self-confessed history geek.
Denise’s desire to explore Mary and Rizzio, both of whom were deemed outsiders by their adversaries, was abetted by her own peripatetic upbringing. Born to an adventurous housewife and a draughtsman who worked in the oil and gas industry, Denise lived life as a ‘tourist’ for much of her youth, moving 21 times in 18 years to Paris, London, Bergen, Invergordon, Glasgow and Perth.
‘We always had a big family in Glasgow, so it didn’t feel that nomadic,’ she says. ‘I loved it. People used to come and visit us everywhere we went. When we lived in Paris we had non-stop visitors in the summer. I could draw a map of Versailles from memory because we went there so often. But we were very aware of how privileged we were to live in these amazing places.’
As I sat listening to Denise speak from her home in Glasgow, the city in which she finally settled in 1986, there was not the slightest inkling that this author – winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, speaker at myriad book festivals, and nominee for the 2020 Costa Novel of the Year award – once lacked confidence in her ability as a writer.
She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a law degree, then began a PhD on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders while teaching criminology and criminal law at Strathclyde University in the 90s. Only in her thirties did she pluck up the courage to write to a publisher.
‘I always knew I wanted to be a writer,’ she says. ‘I was about 30 and I thought, “You’ve just got to try, and you’ll fail and then you’ll get on with your life.” It was like I was leading two lives: a fantasy life and my actual life. So, I wrote Garnethill and sent it off.
‘I was not confident. If they had said, “This isn’t good”, I would have given up. I wonder how many people are out there like that. I am very quick to believe rumours of my own rubbish-ness.’
“You’re quite nerdy, and then you get to go and do super nerdy things – people respond to that
Humble modesty. Remarkable self-deprecation. However you choose to label it, Denise’s personality has now opened the door to an exciting television career. Teaming up with comedian, self-confessed history buff and ‘commensurate nerd’ Frank Skinner, Denise hit the road to recreate Boswell & Johnson’s Scottish Road Trip to the Hebrides, retracing the literary duo’s footsteps through Scotland on boats and horses. More recently, Frank and Denise filmed a four-part series about The Lyrical Ballads of Wordsworth and Coleridge.
‘I think because we’re both autodidacts, you can see the delight that we are taking in the access that we get to these unbelievable places,’ says Denise. ‘It’s such a privilege to see these things. There was one point where I was holding a handwritten poem by Coleridge, and we got to hold Mary Wordsworth’s wedding ring. Incredible.
‘So, you’re quite nerdy, and then you get to go and do super nerdy things. I think people respond to that because you’re clearly having the time of your life.’
Whether ‘chumming along’ with Frank, crafting a bestselling novel, or examining Scotland’s tumultuous past under a modern microscope, Denise embraces the eclectic mix that her career now brings. ‘Really though, what an amazing life. A couple of years ago I went to South America on my own to research a story. I was in Buenos Aires and I just thought, “I can’t believe how lucky I am to be able to do this”.’