The Tartan Noir Show

In this final episode of the first series, we take you on a quick trip to the South of France with a brief dalliance in Minnesota. Critically acclaimed, international best seller, Peter May, joins Theresa Talbot from his home in France. He talks about his brand new book, Lockdown, written 15 years ago about a global pandemic which closes London down...

We get a bit distracted this week with discussions on embracing the grey and best hair products! But there's also plenty of chat about representation of the working class in crime fiction, Edgar Allan Poe who went to school in Ayrshire and the appeal of true crime, amongst many other topics. Denise picks New York Times best-selling writer Brian McGilloway’s first standalone novel, The Last Crossing, as her book recommendation...

We discover how it’s possible to break out of a career in accountancy to become an award-winning crime writer! Abir Mukherjee has recently been nominated for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year for his third Sam Wyndham novel, Smoke and Ashes, set in the Raj era of India. It has also been chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the top 100 crime and thriller novels since 1945...

We love the description of Helen on her website. She’s just recently been nominated for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the year (for the second time). The former social worker, who worked with sex offenders, admits to drawing on her experience to form some of her characters and stories. In this episode, we find out more about growing up in rural Australia, in a neighbourhood of troubled males, and how this influenced some of her career choices...

We made a discovery this week - the term ‘Cops’ may well have originated in Scotland and crossed the Atlantic to America! So says our guest this week - Scottish best-selling writer Denzil Meyrick, the creator of the DCI Jim Daley series. Jerimah’s Bell is the 8th in the DCI Daley series (released: June 2020). Denzil tells Theresa about his setting of rural Kinloch, the old name for Campbeltown in Kintyre where he grew up, and where he sets many of his books...

It won’t have come as a big surprise to hear that the 2020 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival has been cancelled. September may seem like a while away, and there was a hope that it might have gone ahead, but it was announced this week that this would not be the case because of the coronavirus pandemic. We got in touch with the Festival Director, Bob McDevitt, for a chat about what the team are plotting.....

The Tartan Noir Show goes to rural North-East Fife to meet James Oswald on his farm (the size of quite a number of football pitches). James talks about splitting his time between looking after livestock and writing at night. His 55 Highland cattle keep him busy during the day and Inspector Tony McLean keeps him occupied at night. James recommends 'Thunder Bay' - Douglas Skelton’s first book in the Rebecca Connolly series. We hear quite a lot about detectives this week...

Usually, our guest has one book coming out. But not Caro Ramsay - she has six! She explains why. Caro joins us from her home, ‘Spooky Towers’, and we hear about Agnes the ghostly resident who is keen on project managing the builders who are carrying out renovations to the beautiful period building. There’s lots of chat about books, including Caro’s recommendation - No Place To Die by Neil Broadfoot - and a strong focus on forensics...

Douglas Skelton drops by - helped by the power of ‘social distancing remote recording’ - to chat with Theresa Talbot about many things, including: his varied career, his second book in the Rebecca Connolly series, The Blood is Still, and his recommended book, The Devil Aspect, by Craig Russell. We also get to meet Mickey the dug who joins in from another room...

The Tartan Noir Show takes social distancing to a whole new level by connecting (down under) with award winning Scottish author and academic Liam McIlvanney. Theresa Talbot talks to him about teaching Tartan Noir in New Zealand, how he grew up with books and why Glasgow is a great character in crime fiction. We also hear from Chris Brookmyre and Michael Robotham in conversation with Craig Sisterson at the 2019 Bloody Scotland International Crime writing festival in Stirling...