‘It’ s an addiction’, says Tayside’ s oldest writer

AMontrose woman thought to be Tayside’s oldest novelist says writing is an “addiction”. Chris Longmuir, 84, has already penned 10 published books and does not plan to stop anytime soon.

The one-time winner of the Dundee International Book Prize is writing her latest contemporary thriller set in the city.

After that, she plans to pen a follow-up to an historical saga based on Ferryden, next to Montrose.

And when she is not writing, Chris has another fun hobby – building computers from scratch.

Her energy levels are remarkable given she retired 20 years ago.

“I am probably the oldest author in the area,” she said.

“There’s no sign of me stopping yet.

“Writing is like an addiction – it’s not something you choose to do but because you have to do.”

Chris left school, without any qualifications, at the age of 15.

She worked at the Montrose Woolworths, in an office and then as a spinner in a cotton mill.

At 18, Chris became a bus conductor on Alexander’s Bluebird Buses throughout Angus.

After marrying Ernie Longmuir, she ran her own crafts and wool shop in Montrose High Street, next to Woolworths.

In the early 1980s she gained a degree at Dundee University and moved into social work.

She became a social worker, first of all in Dundee, where she learned all about the “dark underbelly” of the city.

Then latterly she worked for Angus Council in a variety of social work posts including criminal justice, as well as a secondment to implement a new software programme for the council.

In 1990, Chris began to scribe short stories that were soon published in the People’s Friend, My Weekly, Dark Horizons (British Fantasy Society magazine), and small press anthologies.

She moved on to historical crime novels and wrote The Death Game featuring policewoman Kirsty Campbell, a former suffragette.

The inspiration for Kirsty’s character was Dundonian Jean Thomson, who is thought to be Scotland’s first policewoman.

It came second in the SAW (Scottish Association of Writers) Pitlochry Trophy competition in 2000 but remained unpublished.

Two of her contemporary crime novels, Night Watcher (2001) and Dead Wood (2008) both won the SAW Pitlochry Award. Neither was published.

However, the following year, Dead Wood won the Dundee International Book Prize and scored Chris a £10,000 cash prize as well as a publishing deal with Polygon.

With the cash she purchased a laptop and went to Venice on the Orient Express.

Although Dead Wood meant one of her books had finally hit the shelves, Chris split with Polygon over royalties and decided to self-publish.

She set up her own company and initially put out her novels as ebooks before selling them in printed format.

Her best-selling books so far are the three novels in the Dundee Crime Series.

Chris said: “Dundee and crime is the mix I use to create stories about the dark side of life.

“There are no angels in my novels which illustrate the lives of drug users, pushers, gangsters, stalkers and the people who live in their midst.”

She added: “I am the kind of person who is curious and doesn’t like to be beaten by anything.

“I did night classes to get a grounding on computers and then ordered the parts separately.

“You need an interesting life. If you just put on your slippers, watch television and do little else, then you will age a lot quicker.”

Chris’s books can be bought from her website.

ON THE CASE: Chris Longmuir, 84, has published 10 books and is working on her latest thriller set in Dundee.