ISSUE
#12 MAR/APR 2005
There
are some months, working on Crime Scene Scotland that I'm
almost amazed we're still around. We've been kicking around
for two years, now, and that's in itself something to be thankful
for. Of course, we're even more thankful that you've been
reading us as well! Without readers, without contributors,
without kind authors and people at publishing houses sending
us books, we'd be floundering around with nothing to do.
This month,
I'd like to give a quick plug to www.gumshoeonline.com,
an online PI game by Hiding Buffalo, a Scots games developer
who won an award for an early version of this game. We're
hoping to do a full review next issue but what they've done
looks pretty intriguing to us, fashioning an online Point
and Click adventure (I'm having Monkey Island flashbacks already)
where you don't need to download any software for your PC.
We'll let you know know what we think next issue!
I've been
reading with some interest, recently, the debate concerning
the relationship of crime fiction to the more literary books
on the shelves. Part of the debate seems centred around the
fact that crime writers are, well, more accesible as people
than literary authors. I don't know many literary authors
(although the ever-angry and always entertaining Ray Banks
claims he's a hybrid author, and he's gonna call himself literary
and be proud of the fact) but one thing I do know is that
crime writers are a fantastically accesible and often very
intelligent bunch. For my money, crime fiction does everything
literature does (when its at its best, of course) and then
adds a spankingly good plot on top. By exploring people at
the most volatile moments of their life, I think crime fiction
can give us not only superb entertainment but a kind of insight
into how the human animal functions.
Speaking
of animals, this month's big reviews see us through the looking
glass as PI Tiger Straight investigates the Kitty Killer Cult,
a book that's got us feline pretty groovy. We come back to
the real world with a jolt, however, as we examine Carol Anne
Davis' true crime compendium, Couples Who Kill, while Davis
herself explains a little about what attracted her to these
cases. We also come face to face with Rick Marinick's fearsome
Southie Boyos and Charlie Stella introduces us to some real
Cheapskates.
Ed "Go
on, give him a contributing credit, you bastards!" Lynskey
explores the history of pulp with an article on Harold Q Masur
and his pulp lawyer. We have fiction, on the violent and upsetting
side, from Colin Conway and Karen Pullen introduces us to
her Pen Pals.
But wait,
you want more? Well there's always more, including our Quick
Hits for the past two months and the Postbag!
That's
enough of my blabbing. I know you're desperate for the main
event, boys and girls. Welcome to the new issue of Crime Scene
Scotland.
Russel
D McLean
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