Make Mine A Neat Scotch

As all Three Regular Readers will be aware, I’ve been banging on at some length recently about DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS, which is a collection of essays, interviews and short stories about Irish crime writing by the Irish crime writers themselves, with yours truly as editor. Happily, great and / or deranged minds think alike, for lo! News comes from Scotland of a tome called DEAD SHARP, edited by Len Wanner and published by Two Ravens Press. To wit:

So much more than just a collection of in-depth interviews with Scotland’s bestselling crime writers, DEAD SHARP is also a distinctive and edgy investigation of Scotland as a changing nation. Brimming with pithy, witty and sometimes just plain weird revelations, these interviews provide a unique and unforgettable insight into how writers think, and into the professional secrets of some of the genre’s greatest exponents. Includes interviews with:

Ian Rankin
Stuart MacBride
Allan Guthrie
Karen Campbell
Neil Forsyth
Christopher Brookmyre
Paul Johnston
Alice Thompson
Louise Welsh

“Len Wanner is the perfect interrogator, subtle, accommodating and incisive, and these interviews elicit many layers of deep, dark and vital intelligence.” – John Banville, author of The Sea

“This is fascinating reading and a real treat. A rare insight into the minds of a diverse group of crime writers, writing in one genre, living in proximity, but all with utterly different, individual voices.” – Peter James, author of Dead Like You

“These interviews cut to the very marrow of Scottish crime writing, deep, incisive and bloody. Bloody good fun too.” – Colin Bateman, author of Mystery Man

“Time was, the best and brightest author interviews were contained in three books: John Williams’ Badlands, and Craig McDonald’s Art in the Blood and Rogue Males. But blasting into the Zeitgeist is Len Wanner’s amazing, in-depth, funny and compassionate collection, showing a side of these authors previously unseen. A stunning, dark jewel in the library of great interviews.” – Ken Bruen, author of London Boulevard and Blitz

“Incorporating a comprehensive range of Scottish author interviews, all of them possessing a different slant on the business of professional writing, Wanner has compiled a must-read anthology of the witty, the wise, the weird and the wonderful. Wanner has encouraged his interviewees to illuminate, edify, entertain and amuse us, and yet has also persuaded them to give us something of real worth. Not only for the aspirant, but also for the weatherworn professional, there is a refreshing vitality and energy present in the text, as if we were right there listening, as if this was for our ears only. Highly recommended, not only as a fascinating peek behind the Oz curtain, but also as a journal of achievement from some of our brightest and best.” – R.J. Ellory, author of A Quiet Belief in Angels

A graduate of University College Dublin, Len Wanner holds an honours degree in German and English, an MA in Modern English, and is currently completing a PhD on Scottish Crime Fiction at the University of Edinburgh. As founder and editor of the online journal thecrimeofitall.com, he has conducted over 450 interviews with international crime writers. He has also been a juror for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and a freelance translator for Irish author Ken Bruen.

  Sounds like a cracker. The book is scheduled for release in August, by the way, so form an orderly queue now …