Denise Mina & Liam McIlvanney #BookWeekScotland

It was a dark, dreich and dreary night on Tuesday when I headed into Glasgow, but there was a warm welcome awaiting me at the Mitchell Library. I was there to see award winning authors Denise Mina and Liam McIlvanney talking about their latest books, which are both based on true crimes. They were in conversation with Douglas Skelton, who himself has written a raft of true crimes books. The event was an Aye Write special for Book Week Scotland.

Denise's latest book is The Long Drop and tells the story of the Peter Manuel murders in the 1950s. Following the deaths of his wife and daughter, William Watt appealed for information.  The murderer came forward and they apparently drank together for twelve hours. Denise read a piece about it, and was struck by the line 'Nobody knows what went on during that time'. Thus the idea of the book was born, although it was originally written as a screenplay, which didn't go anywhere.

It was performed at Oran Mor as part of their lunchtime Pie, a Pint and a Play feature. Members of the audience told her that she'd written it wrong and the truth was far better. Everyone has a story about it. So she looked into it further, and The Long Drop is the result. Although she has fictionalised parts of the story, in the most part, her retelling is factual. As Douglas described it, it's a true crime novel.

Denise told the audience that the court transcripts were fabulous. Half of the criminal underworld gave evidence and lied through their teeth. She read an excerpt from the book, from the court transcripts, and it was certainly entertaining.

Liam's latest book, The Quaker, is loosely based on the Bible John murders in the 1960s. He has used the case as a starting point, but written a fictional book. Douglas asked him what it was about that particular case. Liam explained that it had always interested him, and it was a great name too. He always wanted to write about it, although he knew others had, so decided to write a novel based on it.

Three chapters in his book are written from the point of view of the three dead women. A really interesting idea and, judging from the chapter he read out, very effective.

Liam chose to do what he did because he wasn't brave enough to do what Denise did (his words) - he wanted to be in charge of the material. For him, fictionalising it was liberating. Denise feels differently about this and there was a short discussion about whether it was morally better to stick closely to the facts of a case or to fictionalise it, but no conclusion was reached.

Liam had a reader contact him to say he worked with someone who he was convinced was Bible John. Douglas has had loads of similar comments because of the true crime books he's written -  lots are plausible and some he had passed on to the police to follow up.

Douglas asked about research. For Liam, who hasn't lived in Glasgow for ten years (he lives in New Zealand) it was perhaps easier to write about an older Glasgow, rather than worry about getting modern day details right. He did lots of research and spoke to people from around the time and also looked at microfiche material at the Mitchell Library.

Denise knew some stuff because everyone of a certain age has a Peter Manuel story. And she spoke to older people to get a feel for the atmosphere of the time.

Both have won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year, Denise in 2017 and Liam this year. Douglas asked if they knew their books would be award winning. The answer was a very definite no. Both felt anxious about the books. As far as I can tell, and I've heard a few speak, pretty much all authors think their books are rubbish when they are finished, regardless of how good they are.

Douglas invited questions from the audience. Denise was asked if she'd ever considered writing about Bible John. She hasn't, but thinks it would be a different story if written by a woman, someone who could have been a victim. Liam was asked if he had any thoughts on the identify of Bible John. He didn't and confessed he wasn't really that interested, he 'd just wanted to tell the story.

Both authors were asked about planning - after the initial idea do they plot, or just get going? Liam is somewhere in the middle - he tries to do a little bit of planning, marking maybe five key points in the story and works from there. Denise has tried all sorts of methods from just launching into the story to storyboarding the whole thing. She works best with a rough idea of the plot and waiting to see where it takes her.

There was loads more great stuff on the evening, I just couldn't write fast enough! It was fun, entertaining and interesting. It was brilliant to meet both Denise and Liam, chat with Douglas, and I even managed a wee catch up with Bob McDevitt and found out how planning for Aye Write 2019 is going - can't wait for March!

Buying Links:

The Long Drop - Waterstones, Amazon UK, Amazon US and all good bookshops.
The Quaker - Waterstones, Amazon UK, Amazon US and all good bookshops.