It’s hard to top Scotland’s capital as a spine-chilling setting for dark deeds. Crime writer James Oswald talks summer mysteries, being a farmer by day and the pull of the macabre

Your latest novel, The Rest is Death, touches on ancient artefacts and DNA reengineering set in Edinburgh. Did any particular corners of the city inspire you? 

My partner studied for a PhD at the Dick Vet school out at Easter Bush, many years ago. Part of the work was based on the Bush Estate, and I remember when the first modern research labs started to be built there. I used to take our dogs for walks around the parkland, see the high-tech security around some of the facilities and wonder what exactly was going on inside. That was very much the inspiration for the setting of Drake BioTech. 

For those of us who are yet to meet your central character, Inspector McLean, can you sum up his investigative style?

In a word, Tony McLean is tenacious. His own life has been defined by tragedy, and he is determined to find justice for those who have suffered similarly. He dislikes the politics of policing, interested solely in the work of being a detective. Not quite a total loner, he works with a small team of trusted colleagues.

Perhaps uniquely for a bestselling crime author, you balance writing for a living with livestock farming. How do you find the two align?

Remarkably well, but then I have adapted the farming routine to fit in with a busy writing schedule. Mostly I write at night, after the animals have all been tended to. A lot of farm work doesn’t require deep thought, which also allows my mind to wander down Edinburgh’s dark closes and see what lurks there. I have to be careful though, I once nearly ran a neighbour off the road when taking hay bales up to the Highland cows while my mind was on something else entirely!

Edinburgh’s Fleshmarket Close. Credit: VisitScotland / Kenny Lam

Why are we all so obsessed with the macabre?

I think there’s a certain reassurance to be had from reading about horrible things and knowing that you can stop at any time. Unlike real life, you can put the book down, which gives you control over the horror. There is perhaps solace, too, in knowing that however bad things are for you, someone else could have it worse.

Do you start with the ending of your novels first, or is that a general myth attached to crime writing?

Many authors plan meticulously and know exactly who, how and why before they even put finger to keyboard. I am not one of them. My approach is to start with some unlikely crime scene and then approach it the way my detectives would. Sometimes I’m well over halfway through before I have the faintest idea how it might all end.

You’re a prolific writer, with 23 books published to date. How do you motivate yourself to get to the keyboard when procrastination hits?

Blind panic as deadlines loom is usually enough to get my bum in my writing chair. I’d been writing for well over twenty years before achieving any success. When the books started to sell well, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m riding that momentum still.

Who is your favourite fictional character of all time?

It depends entirely on my mood. The DC Comics character John Constantine is certainly up there. He inhabits a world very similar to our own, but where demons and other ghouls lurk in the shadows. Tony McLean’s world is much the same. 

What topics will you be tackling in your next literary venture?

I’m currently writing book fifteen in the Inspector McLean series. Set in a sweltering summer at the height of festival season, it kicks off with the discovery of a man’s body in a narrow alley. He has been violently murdered and the pressure is on to find the killer swiftly so as not to upset the city’s tourist economy. The only problem is nobody can identify the victim.

Do you prefer paper books or digital when you’re reading in your own time? 

I rarely have time to read books that haven’t been sent to me by hopeful publishers looking for a cover quote! These days, if it’s a book I’ve chosen for myself I tend to listen to the audio version, as that’s something I can do while out and about on the farm. That said, I’m a sucker for a hardback special edition, and while I have a Kobo eReader that I use a lot, I much prefer the feel of paper between my fingers.

The Rest is Death by James Oswald is out now