Bloody Scotland 2024 - blog tour
Well, how did it get to this time of the year once again?! It is also my favourite time as it is the best crime fiction festival - Bloody Scotland, which starts on Friday!
Crime fiction for me is transformative, it's not pigeonholed into a typical police procedural it covers many genres, even every genre and as I reader I'm not here for the visceral crime aspect but for the stories of the people - both the victims, those who commit the crime but also the investigators. Every corner of the world has its own story to tell and that goes for the time period to boot. So far this year my reading has taken me to 23 different countries and from the 1700s to the near future. So this year on the blog tour I wanted to emphasise how global and different crime fiction can be with my pick on who to look out for during the festival!
The first author I want to talk about is Allan Gaw who is nominated for the debut prize this year for his brilliant book ‘The Silent House of Sleep’.
This is a great piece of historical fiction that I adored. Here is the link to my review;
https://www.booksbybindu.com/home/TheSilentHouseOfSleep?rq=Gaw
For me the reason I loved this book was for Dr Jack Cuthbert and his story. A talented pathologist who is at the top of his field but yet struggles in society as he has to hide his true nature - being gay. Plus, his trauma from the war and how he deals with it makes a highly nuanced character!
The debut panel is at the Central Library on Friday at 16.30 and is free to attend but is ticketed. All the authors nominated for the debut prize will be there talking about their amazing books! I have read them all and I wouldn't want to be judging it this year. I might have a favourite though!
https://bloodyscotland.com/debut-prize-panel/
The prizes will be announced on Friday at the Golden Lion at 17.45!
https://bloodyscotland.com/opening-reception-and-prize-ceremony/
The next panel I want to highlight is THE panel for me and that is ‘Kiwi Crime’ on Saturday at the Golden Lion at 4pm.
https://bloodyscotland.com/kiwi-crime-vanda-symon-and-michael-bennett/
This features two of my favourite authors and I literally did squeal when I saw them in the programme! Vanda writes brilliant police procedurals where the protagonist Sam Shepherd is just a normal lass. You can totally imagine her being your best mate and being insanely proud of her. Vanda also writes a wicked story and her latest ‘Prey’ was amazing. Here is my review;
https://www.booksbybindu.com/home/prey-by-vanda-symon
Michael Bennett is still the new guy on the Kiwi Crime scene with his debut ‘Better The Blood’ being published in 2022 and the follow-up ‘Return to Blood’ at the beginning of this year. His debut was my book of 2022 and I still think about it regularly. Here is my review of it;
https://www.booksbybindu.com/home/BetterTheBlood?rq=Better
I love that his cop is original and fresh from Maori descent and is dealing with trauma from having to police a Maori demonstration and then having to face the repercussions of this years later. It gave quite an interesting dynamic to the story.
He also wrote the screenplay for the recent crime series ‘The Gone’ which is well worth the watch!
Another couple of panels I want to highlight show that crime is genre-busting. We have the legendary Ben Aaronvitch and his brilliant series ‘Rivers of London’ where we get crime-fighting wizards! His panel is on Friday at the Golden Lion at 8.30 pm!
https://bloodyscotland.com/friday-13th-fright-night-stuart-neville-ben-aaronovitch-and-jd-oswald/
Then we have Doug Johnstone and his series which features the amazing alien Sandy! His panel is on Sunday at the Golden Lion at 12pm.
https://bloodyscotland.com/capital-offences-emma-christie-helen-fitzgerald-and-doug-johnstone/
These are just a wee taster of what the festival has to offer and I honestly can't wait for the upcoming weekend. If you see me there say hello!
