Bloody Scotland. The very name conjures up Macbethian visions of dark deeds and foul murder. Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s plenty of murder here but it is confined to the pages of the hundreds of crime novels discussed, dissected and debated over the course of three wonderful days in Stirling.  This was my first visit to speak at the festival and I was struck by the collegiate and fun atmosphere, something the organisers have worked hard at instilling, ever since the first edition of the festival in 2012. 

Arriving late on the Friday – following a delayed flight which meant that I missed the torchlit parade down from historic old Stirling castle (where the McIllvanney Prize was announced) – I walked straight into a great first session – seeing David Baldacci speak. The American author was humorous, humble and incredibly honest. Particularly fun was his anecdote about Absolute Power, the novel that made him famous all those years ago. When Clint Eastwood bought the movie rights, he apparently took one look at the book, and decided that the protagonist that he was due to play would no longer be killed off – in fact, he would become the hero and the previous lead – a young lawyer – would simply vanish from the story. Now that’s star power! 

Following this I attended the live podcast session hosted by Steve Cavanaugh and Luca Veste, of Two Crime Writers and a Microphone fame, which also featured TV’s Richard Osmond, and some truly toe-curling extracts from the bad sex (in writing) awards.

Early on the Saturday my good friend and fellow crime writer Abir Mukherjee took me up to see the Stirling Castle, with beautiful views over the town and nearby Bannockburn. Whilst there he attempted to teach me how to say the famous Robert Burns poem “To a mouse”– Burns has a great history here; he actually once stayed at the Golden Lion hotel where the festival takes place. My attempts at reading the poem in Scots dialect were only marginally successful, but I gave it my best shot. Take a look here, if you don’t believe me:

Later that afternoon, I took part in the annual football match between English crime writers and Scottish ones, playing for the English team, captained by Mark Billingham, with the Scottish team led by Craig Robertson. The match was played in a small field, with grass so long it was like wading through the prairies of South America. With a hot sun on our backs it was tough going for two 25 minute halves, but both sets of players were cheered on by an enthusiastic audience. It was a tight fixture with England eventually triumphing 3-0, but the spirit between the teams was friendly and afterwards both teams retired to the nearby Brewdog where the likes of Ian Rankin turned up to ruminate on the fixture.

I next attended a thought-provoking session on the “India Connection” led by Abir, discussing new voices in crime fiction from Indian backgrounds, including Ajay Chowdhury and Trisha Sacklecha. This opened to a wider debate on diversity in the genre.

My own panel took place in the sumptuous ballroom at the Golden Lion, and dissected what ‘cosy crime’ really means. We agreed that much crime fiction so labelled – including mine – is grittier in tone than the word ‘cosy’ would suggest, and that there is a fine difference between comic writing and using humour to illuminate a particular narrative or theme which may be serious in tone. The panel was chaired by Laura Wilson, and included Catriona McPherson and Lynne Truss.

Nearby, Ian Rankin was being interviewed by Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, another coup for the festival.

The evening finished with another dose of fun – watching crime writers singing at the Coo bar, and Scottish dances at a ‘ceilidh’. And finally a visit to a late night kebab shop that Abir swore blind was nutritious, tasty and cheap. He was right on one count – it was cheap.

All in all, a wonderful event and one I wholeheartedly recommend to all those interested in crime fiction, be ye reader, writer, blogger, or industry pro. Well done to Festival Director Bob McDevitt and the entire organising committee. 

NOTE: Abir and I will be discussing the festival in more depth and also chatting about Robert Burns’ legacy in the next episode of our own podcast, the RED HOT CHILLI WRITERS. Check it out here and subscribe if interested: http://redhotchilliwriters.com