Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
‘Shadow Man’, published by Orion on 2nd November, is the first in the DI Lukas Mahler series. It’s set in Inverness, but this is emphatically not the heather hills and shortbread version you might be familiar with.
Dealing with a gangland-style execution and the brutal slaying of a fading daytime TV presenter, ex-Met DI Mahler is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. But is he hunting one killer, or two?
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
A Deadly Inclination. Or, A Song of Slice and Ire …
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
Sum the book up in a haiku! So I did:
Death in the Highlands.
A slaughtered bride, a family torn.
Who is the Shadow Man?
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
Hmm, tricky. Conan Doyle, maybe, because I love the intricacy of his plots. Or Craig Russell, because I’m a huge fan – his Jan Fabel stories, set in Hamburg, are stunning police procedurals with compelling mythic twists. And both our ‘tecs are half-German, half-Scots!
Tell me something nobody else knows about you (yet!).
I made an early foray into play-writing at ten, when I wrote and produced ‘Nefera of the Nile’ (yes, really), featuring murder and mayhem in ancient Eygpt. Should have known then what my career path should be.
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
Louise Cole – The Devil’s Poetry. Elegant, taut and beautifully written dystopian YA. But so much more.
Harry Bingham – The Deepest Grave. His Fiona Griffiths series features the most compelling, off-the-wall female detective I’ve read in a long time. Amazed he’s not better known.
Dorothy L Sayers – Strong Poison. Always good to get back to the classics, and I love the way DLS takes no prisoners with her narrative. No clichés, nothing made too easy for the reader.
Who is Margaret Kirk?
Margaret Morton Kirk is a writer living and working in the Scottish Highlands. Runrig fan, chocoholic and mad cat lady, she writes crime fiction with a twist and was runner-up in the 2015 ‘Bloody Scotland’ Crime Writing Festival short story competition.
Her short story, ‘Still Life’, was broadcast on Radio 4 in February 2016 as part of the ‘Scottish Shorts’ series for new and emerging writers.
‘Shadow Man’, the first in a series of crime novels set in Inverness and featuring ex-Met DI Lukas Mahler, won the 2016 Good Housekeeping First Novel competition. It will be published on 2nd November by Orion
