2 - 5 May 2025

Dr. Suzie Edge – Mortal Monarchs & Vital Organs Suzie Edge is a medical doctor and historian who has worked in a variety of medical specialties including infectious diseases, haematology, and trauma and orthopaedic surgery. She also studied for an MLitt in Modern History to feed her fascination for the history of the human body and the history of medicine.  Always on the lookout for gory historical details, Suzie loves telling stories of how we have treated our human bodies in life and in death. Her books Mortals Monarchs and Vital Organs tell of the grisly details for adults while her kids series History Stinks grosses out the children.  £15, booking with the booking form here, or email [email protected]  

James Oswald and Rob Parker in conversation Two bestselling authors who both live on farms, talk about their work. As the author of the Inspector McLean series, Oswald’s masterful storytelling will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. The most recent in the Edinburgh-based Inspector McLean series, The Rest Is Death, was published in February 2025. In his spare time, James runs a 350-acre livestock farm in Fife, where he raises pedigree Highland cattle. Rob Parker is the author of the bestselling Ben Bracken thrillers, his latest novel is The Troubled Deep. Rob enjoys a rural life on an old pig farm (but now minus the pigs). Rob writes full time and boxes regularly for charity. As the founder of Wire Scribblers he spends a lot of time in schools across the north of England, encouraging literacy, story-telling and creative-writing. If you’re aged between 8 and 16 make sure you sign up to the workshop he is running with FE Birch on Monday 5 May. Full details here. £15, booking with the booking for here, or email [email protected].  

Denise Mina and David Greig – The Darkland Tales Together, this renowned author and one of Scotland’s leading playwrights will discuss their work for Polygon’s compelling Darkland Tales series. Rizzio (Mina) and Columba’s Bones (Greig) are two books in this series that see Scotland’s best writers re-imagining stories from the country’s history, myth and legend. The Darkland Tales reclaim history for a modern audience, with Scotland’s greatest contemporary novelists and storytellers taking on the challenge of producing Scottish history viewed through a modern lens and alive to modern sensibilities.  It's a Saturday night in 1566 and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party, secure in her private chambers. She doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded – that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary. Rizzio is a breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, secrets and lies, one that explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power. Denise Mina is the author of twenty one novels, six graphic novels, four plays and a bucket and a half of short stories.  She has variously won the Creasey Debut Dagger, the Theakston’s, the CWA Short Story Dagger, the MacIlvanny and Gordon Burn Prize and was short listed for the Costa for Novel of the Year. She regularly presents radio and television documentaries, can run like the wind and lives and works in Glasgow.  Columba’s Bones is a comic thriller set on the Island of Iona in the year 825. Grimur, a middle-aged Viking, is accidentally left behind by his colleagues after a brutal raid on the monastery. Alone and in enemy territory he has to survive the summer till his crew come back again. Also left on the island are the one surviving young monk and the Mead Wife. The three become unlikely allies in a gently comic story of love, theology, beekeeping and slaughter. David Greig is a well-known Scottish playwright, and in that capacity his work has been performed around the world, as well as the West End and Broadway. Columba’s Bones is his first novel. £15, booking with the booking form here, or email [email protected]  

Christopher Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman as Ambrose Parry Ambrose Parry is the pen name for husband and wife team Christopher Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman. Chris and Marisa will discuss their critically acclaimed historical crime series set in Victorian Edinburgh and how they have perfected the art of working together. Chris Brookmyre’s first novel, Quite Ugly One Morning, was published in 1996 and won the First Blood Award for the Best First Crime Novel of the Year. Many novels and awards later, his work has been adapted for television, the stage, radio, and in the case of Bedlam, a videogame. His most recent novel, The Cracked Mirror, won the 2024 McIlvanney Prize. Dr Marisa Haetzman was a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience before completing a Masters degree in the History of Medicine. Her dissertation research into the life of James Young Simpson and his discovery of the anaesthetic effects of chloroform led to her collaborating with Chris in writing the historical novel The Way of All Flesh, under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. The first three books were all shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. Their fourth novel, Voices of the Dead, was published in June 2023, and was also shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger. £15, booking with the booking form here, or email [email protected]  

Mull Historical Society / Colin MacIntyre — In My Mind There’s A Room Bringing his worlds of words and music together, Colin MacIntyre’s (aka Mull Historical Society) ninth album, In My Mind There’s a Room, features an all-star cast of literary giants who have penned words about a special room that plays, or has played, a significant part in their lives. Hear it performed live and introduced by Ian Rankin. Ian’s contribution is about his childhood bedroom, ‘My Bedroom Was My Rocket Ship.’ Join Colin for an evening conjuring the spaces which have launched a thousand stories. £12, booking with the booking form here, email [email protected] or use the Eventbrite link here. Colin MacIntyre Colin MacIntyre is a multi-award-winning musician, producer, author for adults and children, and playwright, who has been voted Scotland’s Top Creative Talent. Born into a family of storytellers and writers, he was raised on the isle of Mull in the Hebrides and has released 8 acclaimed albums to date, most notably under the moniker Mull Historical Society. A songwriting junkie since childhood, he had written & recorded 300 songs before he even secured a record deal (with Rough Trade, then Warner Records). He has achieved two UK Top 20 albums and four Top 40 singles to date, since his Gold-selling debut album, 'Loss'. His new MHS album, ‘Wakelines’ has been released to critical acclaim and was produced by Mercury/Brit-Award-winning Producer Bernard Butler. Mull’s local hero status secured, he has been celebrated globally, having been voted Scotland's Top Creative Talent at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards, as well #12 in the Greatest Scottish Artists of All Time public poll, and his single ‘Watching Xanadu’ made STV’s ’Scottish Greatest Album'. Colin has collaborated with a range of artists including Irvine Welsh, Annie Lennox, Snow Patrol, King Creosote, Tony Benn (appearing in Benn’s famous Diaries) and has toured worldwide, including with REM, The Strokes, and Elbow. He has appeared across the board on TV and Radio, in the UK and abroad, including ‘Later with Jools Holland’, 'The Jonathan Ross Show’ and MTV.   

Ian Rankin and Colin MacIntyre in conversation Ian Rankin, the icon of Scottish crime fiction icon returns to Cromarty to discuss the enduring appeal of Detective Inspector Rebus and his latest best seller, Midnight and Blue.  Ian will be in conversation with award-winning musician and novelist Colin MacIntyre. As a musician, under the moniker of the Mull Historical Society, Colin MacIntyre has eight albums to his name and his first book, The Letters of Ivor Punch, won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award in 2015 as well as the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. He has been voted Scotland’s Top Creative Talent at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards. Set on Mull, Colin’s When the Needle Drops is a gripping crime drama.  Make sure you catch Colin performing live on Saturday night as the Mull Historical Society  £15, booking with the booking form here, or email [email protected]

Dr. Maria McLennan – The Craft of Forensics: Forensics, Jewellery, and Facial Reconstruction.  Dr Maria Maclennan, is an award-winning academic researcher, designer, and forensic artist. Originally from the Black Isle, Maria is currently a Senior Lecturer in Jewellery and Silversmithing at The University of Edinburgh. Her work as the world’s first ‘Forensic Jeweller’ involves carefully dissecting jewellery’s role in a variety of forensic and criminal contexts, following the trail of clues that objects leave behind on both the body and at crime scenes. Drawing upon her work with international police and investigative agencies across the globe, Maria will invite the audience to put on their detective hat, pick up their jeweller’s loupe, and embark on a true-crime adventure using jewellery as an investigative lens. Maria will also touch upon the intricate process of craniofacial reconstruction, and how the power of art and science can combine to reconstruct faces of the deceased. £15, booking with the booking form here, or email [email protected]  

Children & Young Peoples Day - The Mystery of the Missing Macaroni Pies For the first time ever, Cromarty Crime & Thrillers Weekend will include a day of mystery solving and creative writing for a younger audience.  Young sleuths will solve The Mystery of the Missing Macaroni Pies, a specially written work set in the Cromarty Bakery. They will then spend the afternoon working together on a group mystery story plus some of their own stories which will be published in an anthology later in the year. Every person attending will receive a free copy of the book. Author and workshop leader from Wire Scribblers, Rob Parker will lead the day with fellow author and ex-police officer FE (Sharon) Birch.  Having visited several thousand children in school settings around the country since 2016, Rob has seen what works and what doesn't - and seen the change in emphasis the teaching of creative writing has taken. This workshop aims to bring back the fun and simple joy to writing stories, giving the power and confidence back to the children themselves. There is no right answer, no wrong answer, just your own imagination and the excitement of creation. Suitable for ages 8-16, the day costs £20 per person or just £5 if you live in an IV11 postcode. Bring a drink and a packed lunch. To book, download this booking form or email [email protected]  This event is generously supported by the Middleton Trust.