Iain Maitland is the author of thrillers: Mr Todd’s Reckoning (2019) and Sweet William (2017) as well as two non-fiction books on mental health: Dear Michael, Love Dad (2016) and Out of the Madhouse (2018). An ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity, Iain also speaks on mental health issues in the workplace. A writer since 1987, he is a journalist and has written more than 50 books, mainly on business, which have been published around the world.
Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
My latest book is The Scribbler, the first in a series of Gayther & Carrie detective novels, published by Contraband, the crime imprint of Saraband Books. The Scribbler was a serial killer of gay men in Norfolk in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was never caught. A new death with The Scribbler’s tell-tale signs on the body suggests he’s back. Can Gayther and Carrie catch him before another killing spree begins?
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
Dear Michael, Love Dad (Hodder, 2016) and Out Of The Madhouse (JKP, 2018) – I’ve already spilled my guts in two family memoirs. If someone wrote about my crime-writing, the title should be ‘He’s Quite Nice Really’
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
None of note. I guess like most crime writers I am occasionally asked to read a writer’s MS which is always tricky as, even if they are an undiscovered genius, I am always so busy writing and working through my own TBR pile.
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
My son Adam who wants to be a writer – I’d love to write books with him and he can take over the Gayther & Carrie series when I drop down dead.
Tell me something nobody else knows about you (yet!).
When I started creative writing, I was going to write humour but I seem to have gone off at a tangent with guts and gore. I try to slip a bit in when no-one is looking.
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
Claire MacLeary’s latest, ‘Runaway’, the third Harcus and Laird thriller – gritty and funny too.
‘Displaced’ by Barbara Nadel, the most recent Hakim and Arnold – I love to see how these characters develop.
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s ‘His Bloody Project’ – my favourite book, I read it every couple of years. Simply the best writer.
The Scribbler – Iain Maitland:
“He’s back, Carrie. The Scribbler is back.”
DI Gayther and his rookie colleague DC Carrie have been assigned a new caseload. Or rather, an old one… cold murder cases of LGBTQ+ victims.Georgia Carrie wasn’t even born when the notorious serial killer began his reign of terror across the East of England, but Roger Gayther was on the force that failed to catch him and remembers every chilling detail.
Back in the Eighties, Gayther’s team hadn’t been assigned sufficient resources. But now, after all these years, there’s a sudden death featuring The Scribbler’s tell-tale modus operandi. Gayther and Carrie have to find and bring him to justice to stop the killing once and for all.
