Psychedelic Shortbread at Granite Noir

March 5th, 2025

On Sunday 23rd February 2025, I became a two-time local in the limelight at Aberdeen’s Granite Noir crime-writing festival. My story ‘Psychedelic Shortbread’, a wotdunnit set in a remote Scottish recording studio, opened an event featuring a quintet of (very!) established crime writers. Led by Former Tracy Brother and foe to Maid Marian’s Merry Men, Mark Billingham and ably backed by Chris Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste, they riffed with Peggy Hughes on what it’s like to moonlight as musicians in their side project Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. The story was very well matched and I was pleased to hear the audience chuckling along, sometimes where I intended them to.

The next step for me will be to find a home for the story, so unfortunately I can’t publish it here. But, hey, you can enjoy it for yourself through the event livestream – after all, the perpetrator can never resist returning to the scene of the crime, can they?

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