大象传媒

Stuart MacBride was born in Dumbarton and raised in Aberdeen; abandoning his studies to become an architect, he went to work on the oil rigs, scrubbing toilets. He then tried out careers as an actor, a web designer, and a computer programmer, all the while writing away after work 鈥� he wrote four novels before his first, Cold Granite, was published in 2005. Since then, he鈥檚 become one of our most successful and prolific crime writers, with twenty-four titles in all, sometimes labelled as 鈥渢artan noir鈥�. His latest, about the hunt for a serial killer, is called No Less the Devil. Reviewers say things like 鈥渢his isn鈥檛 a novel to read over dinner鈥�, or 鈥渟lick, gruesome and brutally intelligent.鈥� Gruesome crime-writing apart, Stuart MacBride鈥檚 other notable achievements include winning Celebrity Mastermind (his subject was A.A. Milne) and coming first in the World Stovies Championship.

In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Stuart MacBride reveals how his 鈥渧ery dull鈥� childhood developed his imagination as a writer, and how he first discovered crime fiction in the Aberdeen public library. He went to the library every day, read under the covers at night, and borrowed new books the following morning, moving on from the Hardy Boys to Dashiell Hammett.

For Stuart MacBride, music is essential; he listens continually when he works, and his latest novel was written entirely to the soundtrack of Wagner鈥檚 Ring. Alongside Wagner, choices include Beethoven, Purcell, Bruch and Holst. He also introduces music by the Australian composer Sean O鈥橞oyle, a concerto for didgeridoo, which he loves because it鈥檚 so dark.

Produced by Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 3