The BookTrail Guide to Bloody Scotland 2024
Bloody Scotland
Can’t quite believe it but it’s very nearly time to head to Stirling and celebrate another very fine Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival.
What to do and who to see? Well, you are honestly spoilt for choice. but here is a snapshot based on locations in novels of course…
Two Queens of Scotland and North East England crime novels
Ann Cleeves and Lin Anderson in conversation. Now that is a real treat and you can’t miss it! Ann is of course the creator of Vera novels set in North East England and the Shetland novels set on the Scottish islands. Lin Anderson sets her novels in and around Scotland gets to some really gritty places..
Can you imagine any better duo to chat crime? Lin is of course one of the founders of this fine festival so it’s always a treat to listen to her deviously criminal mind!
Island drama
There is something very exciting about crime novels set on islands. I’ve recently listened to Ruth Ware’s novel One Perfect Couple and Louise Minchin’s novel Isolation island and this panel is set to be fascinating.
Ruth Ware has written many novels that have taken me places I really didn’t want to go – I’m still recovering from being on that boat and meeting that women in cabin 10. Now in One Perfect Couple, we’re on an island as part of a reality show. Except this time it all goes very very wrong. Mwah ha ha.
Louise on the other hand is a debut fiction author. A famous face from the telly, now she’s crossed over to the dark side…and crime fiction debut Isolation Island just fizzles with intrigue. Brilliant debut and a fan of all things Scottish. She says she spent some of her happiest years in Scotland and got the idea for a mystery novel set here- with an imaginary monastery and an imaginary island.
Classics revisited – London and Bath
One of the most exciting trends in crime fiction is the reimaging of a classic crime novel. Or going back to a time in the past where things were very different. Where there are no mobile phones and technology. This makes the setting pop even more as characters have to travel longer distances, ride horses in the countryside, and you visit grander houses in the city – you see a lot more of the setting in a different time.
Estella’s Revenge – I loved this novel. What happened to Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham who lived in that big old Satis House in London?
We all know and love Jane Austen novels set in Bath. Now what would have happened if Jane Austen herself solved crimes? No need to imagine any more.
Sherlock Holmes’ London – Gareth Rubin
Any excuse to go back to 221B Baker Street and I am there!
Which ever panel you go to, just know that Bloody Scotland really is one of the finest festivals. Enjoy and have a Stirling time. Sorry not sorry.
