News
Crime writer will visit Orkney to discuss her work
Robert Leslie 16/01/2009 10:52:00
ONE of Scotland's top crime writers has created an Orcadian professor of psychology to help solve her central character's latest case.
And, thanks to a chance meeting with two Orkney Library staff, author
Lin Anderson is due to come to the county later this year to talk about
her work, and the new Orcadian in her fictional crimefighting team.
In Easy Kill, the fifth novel to feature forensic scientist Rhona
MacLeod, Lin introduces Magnus Pirie, an Orcadian professor from
Strathclyde University's Department of Psychology. Professor Pirie has
been studying the unsolved cases of murdered Glasgow prostitutes -
eight in the last ten years - so when the bodies of two prostitutes are
found buried in the city's Necropolis his help is sought.
The storyline is a gripping one, taking readers through some of
Glasgow's darker side, both above and below ground - the murderer may
be driven by water and the moon - and doesn't hold back on the grim and
dangerous realities of life on the streets of Scotland's largest city.
Having studied a diploma in forensic science, Lin is well placed to go
into the gritty details of crime scene forensics that feature in her
books, using smell as much as sight to paint vivid and disturbing
pictures.
Now a full-time novelist and screenwriter, Lin is a former teacher, and
the Rhona MacLeod series, which began in 2003 with Driftnet, was
inspired by a former pupil, Emma Hart, who now works for the
Metropolitan Police in London as a forensic scientist.
In a similar vein, Lin told Orkney Today that part of the inspiration
for the character of Magnus came from how impressed she had been with
the standard of education in Orkney, having taught for a year at
Kirkwall Grammar School in the mid-70s.
She said: "I came to Orkney with my husband, John, who was engineer on
the new houses being built at Craigiefield in Kirkwall. That was 1974,
and I had come from teaching in Glasgow where the attendance was 65%
and in Orkney it was 97%. I was very impressed with the whole education
set-up. I use the line in the book about Orkney having produced more
professors per head of population than anywhere else in the UK."
It was quite fitting then, to have an Orcadian professor in one of her
novels, though it looks like Magnus, for whom a keen sense of smell is
as important as sight in his work (and outside it), is to have a longer
stay than just one book.
"I introduced Magnus in this one, and he is going to carry on in the
next one. He is going to be a major character. I have already delivered
the next novel, Final Cut, which is out later this year, and Magnus
will also feature in the one after that, which I am working on at the
moment," she said. "He's already got numerous fans; my editor has
fallen in love with him."
While the physical stature of Magnus - 'tall and broad-shouldered with
slim hips, his thick brown hair pulled back in a ponytail' - came from
a stranger spotted on a trip to a supermarket near her Merchiston home,
there is no doubting the strong Orkney character, complete with the
'lyrical quality' of his accent that Detective Inspector Bill Wilson,
Rhona's closest police force colleague, recognises having spent
holidays in Stromness.
"I really like the Orkney accent, and I wanted to use that voice as
well. I thought it was such a fascinating character coupled with his
presence. It is an accent that Cameron Stout made recognisable when he
was in Big Brother. Cameron gets a mention in a future novel," she
added.
So, it looks as if a year-long stay in Orkney has had a fair impact on
the Edinburgh-based author, who has already mentioned the islands in at
least one of her previous Rhona MacLeod novels - the chambered tomb of
Maeshowe is described in the third in the series, Deadly Code - and the
friendships formed then have also had an influence.
Lin and her husband stayed in a caravan at Orakirk in Orphir, owned at
the time by farming couple Geordie and Vina Pirie, who also had a
furniture business, and who now live in Stromness. The lasting
friendship with the Piries - Lin was visiting them in 2003 when Cameron
won Big Brother - gave Magnus his surname.
And nights spent in the company of Geordie and Vina during that stay in Orkney in 1974 gave Lin a taste for Orkney storytelling.
"We spent a lot of time on the farm with them, especially when the wind
was high. Geordie would come out to the caravan and say to come into
the house because it was so wild. He had a wonderful interest in human
nature and character and I wanted that sort of character to come across
through Magnus."
Lin, who was born in Greenock of Scottish and Irish parents, had also
done a lot of research on John Rae, and imagined Magnus as learning
some of the similar outdoor skills. However, Magnus's recollection of a
disastrous first attempt at curing a seal skin came from an attempt by
Lin's husband to do the same thing in their tiny caravan in Orphir in
1974.
There are plenty of other references to Orkney in Easy Kill, indeed,
without revealing anything of the story, the book ends with Rhona
visiting the islands. It begs the question, will any future Rhona
MacLeod novels see more of the storyline in Orkney?
However, Lin is not sure if she wants to start killing off Orkney folk in her books.
"I would just have to say 'Who knows?'," she replies, leaving things extremely open-ended!
Anyone who wants to learn more about Lin Anderson and her works will
have the opportunity to do so at first hand in June, when Lin is due to
visit for an event at the Orkney Library in Kirkwall.
She explained that she had encountered two Orkney Library staff at last
September's Scottish Mobile Meet, a special event for mobile library
staff, at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, where she had read part of
Easy Kill that featured Magnus Pirie.
"These two ladies came up to me at the end and said 'we're from Orkney, would you like to come up?'"
The two ladies, isles mobile driver Betty Stanger and principal
librarian Karen Walker, are delighted that she has accepted the
invitation.
Karen Walker said: "My ears pricked up when she mentioned the Orkney
character, and I decided to ask her. She was a very good speaker and
very easy to talk to, and she was very keen to come and do the event."
The event at Orkney Library is due to go ahead on Wednesday, June 3 as part of the library's book club programme.
n EASY KILL by Lin Anderson is out now in paperback published by Hodder & Stoughton, £6.99.