The Tartan Noir Show

An exclusive preview of The Tartan Noir Show: a brand new Scottish crime writing podcast, hosted by author and broadcaster Theresa Talbot! Subscribe now ahead of the release of the first full episode on Wednesday 1st April.

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTartanNoir

For more information, visit: www.thebiglight.com/thetartannoirshow

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What better way to begin The Tartan Noir Show than with The Queen of Crime, Val McDermid? Theresa Talbot talks to Val about her new book, which is not about crime and death, but about hope! 'Imagine a Country' is a collection of essays by prominent Scots, edited by Val and geographer, Jo Sharp. But, not straying from crime fiction for too long, Val and Theresa discuss the Godfather of Tartan Noir - the influential William McIlvanney, and his Laidlaw trilogy...

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...

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...

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...

With his new crime novel, A Song of Isolation, hitting the bookshelves, Michael joins Theresa Talbot on The Tartan Noir Show to talk about his latest book. They also chat about his move from prize winning poetry to crime. And - oh yeah - his short spell as a scribe in residence at a Scottish sex shop! His recommended book is Alex Knight’s, Hunted - described as a ‘well-crafted, tightly-plotted thriller that races from the streets of San Francisco to the coast without pausing for breath’...

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...

When she’s not designing vaccine clinical trials and studying the stats, Susi spends the rest of her time writing. She has seven novels, under her belt, the latest The Last Resort comes out in December - Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One perfect crime. Susi’s books are all very different, from police procedurals, supernatural to psychological thrillers. And as Theresa finds out the next two are science based...

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.....

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...