Every Dog has his Publication Day

Everyone is welcome at 6:30pm on Thursday evening at Portree Community Library for the PUBLICATION DAY launch party of my new Forensic Scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod thriller TIME FOR THE DEAD . Much of the book is set on Skye and helping me with the book launch will be my friend Oor Blaze fae Skye (@Blazespage on twitter) who features in the book.

Black as the Sand on Skye Beaches

Read the full review for TIME FOR THE DEAD
by the FullyBooked2017 book blog here ...

Prime Suspects at Bute Noir 2019

I'm delighted to be back in lovely Rothesay for the annual Bute Noir crime writing Festival this coming weekend (2nd-4th August 2019).

I have two events on Friday evening, and I've started doing some preparatory reading for interviewing Ian Rankin at 9:00pm in Rothesay Library.

Before talking with Ian, Stuart MacBride and I will be discussing our new books at 8:00pm in the library.

I do love a festival where you have to get a ferry!

The full Bute Noir programme for the weekend is :-

~o~

Time for the Dead (Rhona MacLeod Book 14)

I’m a big fan of Skye. The drive from my home village of Carrbridge to the island is one of my favourites. Being a west coaster (born in Greenock on the Clyde), heading into the west feels like going home.

When I first met Rhona in Driftnet, I decided to make her adopted and her adopted parents come from Skye. Spending time on the island during her childhood, she loves the place.

When life gets too hectic for me, I always imagine heading west to a little cottage beside the sea. I expect that’s why after the horror of Sins of the Dead, a traumatised Rhona heads for that cottage on Skye with its blue painted door right next to the shore… her parents’ island home and hers as her younger self.

She goes there to heal, she hopes, and to find the person she was before Sins of the Dead, before she lost faith in her ability to do her job.

DI Wilson wanted her to go to Castlebrae, where folk traumatised by front line duty are helped, but Rhona refuses to do that. At the end of Sins of the Dead, McNab takes her by motorbike to Skye instead.

That journey affects them both. Rhona sees the route often travelled in a whole new light. McNab, the urban warrior finds himself entranced by riding his Harley on the open road, with Rhona as his passenger.

As Time for the Dead opens we find Rhona still struggling with the fallout from Sins of the Dead, despite all her efforts to put the past behind her. With Chrissy, McNab and DI Wilson anxiously watching from afar and keen for her to return to the fold, she is still stuck in that other world, the world where scents and sounds can send her back into remembered horror.

Her cover is good. She chats to McNab dutifully on Skype. She hillwalks with Jamie McColl, who she knew as a teenager, but still she is stuck in no man’s land until one day, taken to A.C.E. Target Sports by Jamie, who’s arranging a stag do there for a friend…Rhona meets a Border collie called Blaze, who changes everything.

Taken by Blaze to a spot in the woods on the hill behind A.C.E. Target Sports, she discovers what appears to be a crime scene…or is it?

Thus begins the re-awakening of Rhona’s forensic desire to discover the truth, in particular how the horror of an incident in the war in Afghanistan may be playing out its conclusion on the Isle of Skye.

~oOo~

Order Time for the Dead on Amazon

Related Links:-

Sins of the Dead are all consuming

Oor Blaze fae Skye on Twitter

A.C.E. Target Sports on Skye

Win tickets to THE STAIRCASE event in Glasgow

Today’s BLOODY SCOTLAND contest offers winners two pairs of tickets for tomorrow night's THE STAIRCASE event at the Glasgow O2 Academy at 7pm where I will be moderating the discussion with David Rudolf.

(venue address: 121 Eglinton St, Glasgow G5 9NT)
The contest closes at 11pm BST this evening (17th October 2018).

Two random entries with the correct answer to the question below will be selected to each win a pair of tickets to tomorrow night's THE STAIRCASE event.

QUESTION: How many different countries were represented last month at the 2018 Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival in its most cosmopolitan programme ever?

To enter the contest, answer the question above giving the number of countries in an email with subject line THE STAIRCASE to contest@lin-anderson.com

The two lucky winners will be notified by email as soon as possible after 11pm tonight.

Good luck!!!

Update: Correct question answer was 14 countries. The draw has been made from the entries with the correct answer, and the two lucky winners have been informed. (11:20pm 17th October 2018)

Related links;-

Buy tickets for THE STAIRCASE event on 18th October 2018

The Staircase | Netfix Official Site

Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival

The Staircase - Accident or Murder?

Have you watched the true crime documentary The Staircase on Netflix? If not I urge you to do so, because what happens in the real world is often far more strange and horrific than anything we crime fiction writers could dream up.

The Staircase documents the extraordinary criminal case against Michael Peterson in Durham, North Carolina, for the murder of his wife, which lasted for fifteen years, eight of which he spent in prison. The case is famous for its ‘bad forensic science’, manufactured by the police and forensic services in order to obtain a conviction.

It is also an extraordinary mystery, because how Kathleen Peterson actually met her death is still not clear.

One thing that is certain however is that David Rudolf, who defended Michael believed firmly in his innocence.

In Scotland, we crime writers are privileged to work closely with Police Scotland and our own forensic services so that we might get our facts right. Police Scotland believe that it’s important that the general public are informed about forensics and related matters as any one of us may be asked to sit on a jury and be required to interpret the forensic evidence being presented.

Never have I believed this more strongly than when I watched the jurors in the Peterson case being manipulated and lied to over the evidence being presented to them.

So when I received a call to ask if I might moderate the discussion with David Rudolf at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on 18th October, I was delighted to accept.

David will be talking about the extraordinary Peterson case, and answering questions posed by the audience.

Related links;-

Buy tickets for event on 18th October 2018

The Staircase | Netfix Official Site

Day of Thunder in Aviemore

Another amazing day on Saturday in Speyside, with me getting a 'backie' on the 'Thunder In The Glens' rideout, and then a SINS OF THE DEAD book launch event with 'The Ladies of Harley' in Aviemore.
I'll just let the pictures (and video) tell the story ...   (may contain traces of Mary Grant)

I've come to the right place then ... ;o)

Definitely come to the right place !!!  :o)

With my biker (Jim from Dunedin Chapter HOG)

Waiting for the rideout to start with Fran and Jim, 'Mad Dog' McGuire (yellow hi-viz), 
and Alex Saunders, my Editor from Pan Macmillan

 Getting ready to roll ...

And we are off !!!

The Sunday Herald photographer (Paul Campbell) must have been VIP-spotting  ;o)

After a wonderful two hour experience on the rideout through Carrbridge (my village) and over the Dava Moor and through Boat of Garten and Grantown-on-Spey (for a pit stop), it was back to Aviemore for more bikes/books shenanigans ...

First time I've walked into a room where there were 100+ 'Ladies of Harley', the ladies of
Waterstones Aviemore selling my books, and free BLOODY SCOTLAND cocktails from
STIRLING GIN    ...    And the 'Ladies of Carrbridge' hadn't arrived yet!

Two 'Ladies of Carrbridge' were definitely on their way! #ScotrailBookLaunchExpress

Talking books and bikes ...

... more BLOODY SCOTLAND cocktails (from STIRLING GIN) ...

...  then  the 'Ladies of Carrbridge' arrived ...

... and I eventually got to sit down and relax.
Did I mention that Mary Grant (left) is in SINS OF THE DEAD?

~o~

Related links:-

Dunedin HOG Chapter

Thunder_in_the_Glens

Waterstones Aviemore

BLOODY SCOTLAND Crime Writing Festival

Stirling Gin  

Bloody Scotland Cocktail Recipe

Pan Macmillan

Full video for 2017 TITG Rideout