Frederic Lindsay

Page Updated: 28/01/02

Frederic Lindsay

Darkness In My Hand

Death Knock

Idle Hands

A Kind of Dying

Kissing Judas

and

Books By Frederic Lindsay

About the Author (Photo by The Scotsman)

Bibliography

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (2001)

Darkness In My Hand
The fifth darkly compelling psychological thriller to feature Edinburgh-based detective, DI Jim Meldrum.
After a fraught dinner with his ex-wife and her husband, Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum escapes early to drown the experience. Next morning he awakes in an expensive Edinburgh hotel with bruised knuckles, aching ribs and no memory of how he got there. Over by the window, a woman he doesn’t know is getting dressed. If she is to be believed, they have spent the night as lovers.
Later that day, the body of a man beaten to death is discovered in an unoccupied room of the second floor of the Hamilton Hotel. The room next to the one in which Meldrum woke up.
Who was the dead man? And who killed him? Tormented by doubts as to what might have happened during the hours he can’t remember on the night of the murder, Dl Jim Meldrum fears the answer may ruin his life. Yet he conducts his search for the truth with unwavering integrity. It’s the only way he knows.
Praise for Frederic Lindsay
'An evocative and brilliant opening…Intelligent, entertaining, gripping and well-written...The British crime novel is enjoying a second "golden age" - an age of realism - with literate writers using the form to say important and necessary things about contemporary life and the darker workings of the human mind. Frederic Lindsay is playing his part in making readers sit up and take notice' Ian Rankin, Scotland on Sunday (Of Kissing Judas)

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (2000)

Paperback - Coronet (2001)

Death Knock
Three hot days in a-row and Edinburgh is going a little crazy. Taking a short cut through a tough housing scheme, Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum finds himself caught up in an ambush of firemen set up by a mob of twelve-year-olds. As a result, he arrives at a murder scene with a lump gouged out of his skull and mild concussion.
Things aren’t helped when the beautiful redheaded woman in evening dress, found stabbed to death in an upstairs bedroom, is identified as well-connected city businessman Brian Ashton. Even with a brooding headache and a bad case of double vision, Meldrum can see trouble ahead. And that’s before he meets the victim’s redheaded widow.
Helped by local academic and crime profiler Henry Stanley, Meldrum begins to unravel the bizarre secrets surrounding more than one sudden death. Gradually, as the hot summer days pass, he is moved inexorably to a solution that will alter his life.
'An intriguing and intelligent thriller' Sunday Telegraph
'A modern crime fable that manages to engage with the sordid without becoming overcome by its stench… An entertaining read, to be savoured for its wry, literate dialogue and compelling noirish atmosphere' The List

Paperback - Coronet (2000)

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (1999)

Idle Hands
The murder investigation of retired businessman Iain Bower is proving frustrating for Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum. Having worked abroad for many years, Bower had moved to Edinburgh only recently, and seems to have had few acquaintances and no enemies.
Until, that is, an unknown man appears at his funeral, pisses into the open grave and runs off.
Subsequent enquiries are hampered by the fact that witnesses are being interviewed by someone claiming to be not only a policeman, but Meldrum himself.
Step by step, Jim Meldrum uncovers the sinister secrets surrounding Bower's past. Secrets that have lain buried for more than thirty years. Secrets which will emerge with unexpected and devastating consequences. Secrets which are about to take Meldrum himself to the edge of darkness.
Disturbing, unsettling, harrowing at times, Idle Hands, is a compulsive yet chilling read. Once again, Frederic Lindsay has triumphantly confirmed his position as 'one of the most potent voices in contemporary Scottish fiction' (The Herald)
'Lindsay can chill your soul' Sarah Dunant, The Listener
'A thoroughly gripping read' Scotland on Sunday
'A most satisfying and chilling read' Irish Times
'Lindsay is a profoundly serious writer using the conventions of the mystery novel to approach "the dangerous edge of things"' Allan Massie, Scotsman

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (1998)

Paperback - NEL (1999)

A Kind of Dying
Men go missing all the time; often because that's what they've chosen to do. So when he's sent to investigate a disappearance, Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum begins to ask himself why the Chief Constable and so many of his colleagues are taking such a big interest in what appears to be a routine investigation. Wealthy John Bellman lived a quiet life out of the public eye. What makes his disappearance so important?
An unexpected call takes Meldrum to Oslo where a Norwegian policeman appears to have evidence that Bellman was connected to one of the most dangerous neo-Nazi groups to emerge since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In London, Bellman's daughter will ask her own price of Meldrum to help in the search. From there, Meldrum's dogged pursuit of the truth takes him deep into a New England forest where the elements of Bellman's past come into violent collision. For the final unravelling, however, he has to seek elsewhere. To uncover the roots of a spreading evil, Jim Meldrum must come home. To Edinburgh.
This riveting, thought-provoking and darkly compelling thriller, which cunningly subverts the reader's expectations at every twist and turn, reaffirms Frederic Lindsay's growing reputation as 'one of the most potent voices I contemporary Scottish fiction' (The Herald) Praise for Kissing Judas 'Lindsay's book is intelligent, entertaining, gripping and well-written... Ian Rankin, Scotland on Sunday ,..a superb piece of crime fiction. Edinburgh Evening News Frederic Lindsay is a writer of stunning psychological insight and this compelling new novel confirms his reputation as 'one of the most interesting writers to have emerged in Scotland this decade' (Allan Massie, The Scotsman). Frederic Lindsay was born in Glasgow and now lives in Edinburgh where he is actively involved in the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish PEN. He has written for the theatre, radio, TV and film, and is the author of one previous Jim Meldrum novel, Kissing Judas which is available in Coronet and four other highly acclaimed novels, Brond, Jill Rips, A Charm Against Drowning and After the Stranger Came. His first novel, Brond, was televised in a three-part adaptation by Channe4
‘Well written, well paced and well plotted… Jim Meldrum’s company has again proved to be as thought-provoking as it is entertaining’ James Jauncey, The Scotsman
‘Lindsay is a master at catching the small detail and giving it a shining lustre that may or may not turn out to be fool’s gold… I’m off now in search of the other Jim Meldrum novel, Kissing Judas’ Vincent Banville, Irish Times
'Lindsay's Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum is both credible and endearing… A complex and satisfying crime novel' The Sunday Times

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (1997)

Kissing Judas
Introducing Edinburgh Detective, Jim Meldrum
A decent man in a time when integrity has gone out of fashion, Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum reckons his career has taken its toll. It's cost him his marriage, alienated his daughter, inured him to acts of senseless violence and the corrupting power of greed. Yet despite this stony facade, the murder of an elderly blind man -just another statistic - continues to haunt him fifteen years after the event. Jim Meldrum is convinced that the wrong man languishes in jail. Hugh Kearney, the convicted man, has always protested his innocence and without an admission of guilt there is no parole for a man serving life for murder. When Kearney goes on hunger strike, Meldrum is forced to face up to his doubts about the case.
From the genteel terraces of Edinburgh to the tenements of Glasgow, from the tormented beauty of Co. Armagh to the deceptive calm of the Loire valley, Meldrum searches for the answers to why the blind man had to die.
The more he probes, the wider the implications become and the more serious the consequences. In physical danger, his career on the line, his family at risk, Jim Meldrum must consider how high a price he's prepared to pay for justice.
Frederic Lindsay is a writer of stunning psychological insight and this compelling new novel confirm his reputation as `one of the most interesting writers to have emerged in Scotland this decade' (Allan Massie, The Scotsman).
'An evocative and brilliant opening…Intelligent, entertaining, gripping and well-written...The British crime novel is enjoying a second "golden age" - an age of realism - with literate writers using the form to say important and necessary things about contemporary life and the darker workings of the human mind. Frederic Lindsay is playing his part in making readers sit up and take notice' Ian Rankin, Scotland on Sunday
'Lindsay has used a genre often concerned with entertainment only to write a profoundly serious novel, as Chandler and Ross Macdonald did in California half a century ago' Allan Massie, The Scotsman
'A superb piece of crime fiction. We're going to hear a lot more about Jim Meldrum' Neil Johnstone of Waterstones, Edinburgh Evening News
More Praise for Frederic Lindsay:
'One of the most potent voices in contemporary Scottish fiction' The Herald
'One of the most interesting writers to have emerged in Scotland this decade' Allan Massie, The Scotsman
'There's nothing like a good whodunnit to leap out of the shadows and deal a death-blow to those dark winter evenings… Lindsay keeps you guessing right till the final pages' Big Issue
After the Stranger Came
`A book which deserves to be read with the same closeness and intelligence with which it has been written' Allan Massie, The Scotsman
'An unsettling and provocative read' Time Out
A Charm Against Drowning
`When he's on form Lindsay can chill your soul.' Sarah Dunant, The Listener
Jill Rips
'Jill Rips is harrowing, but its grim. Poetic vision makes it the best novel of its kind for years' Today
'Violent and vicious, Lindsay's unsparing tale beds down with the imagination like a succubus' The Sunday Times
'Tautly and skilfully written - a genuine, can't-put-it-down, turn-off-the-telly-read' Daily Express

About The Author
Born in Glasgow, Frederic Lindsay now lives in Edinburgh. He has served on the Literature Committee of the Scottish Arts Council, and is actively involved with PEN and the Society of Authors. He has written for the theatre, radio, TV and film, and is the author of eight previous highly acclaimed novels, one of which has been adapted into a major Hollywood film.

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

Darkness In My Hand (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001) (Jim Meldrum)

Death Knock (Hodder & Stoughton, 2000) Coronet Pbk Jan 01 (Jim Meldrum)

Idle Hands (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999) Coronet Pbk Mar 00 (Jim Meldrum)

A Kind of Dying (Hodder & Stoughton, 1998) NEL Pbk Jan 99 (Jim Meldrum)

Kissing Judas (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997) Coronet Pbk 1998 (Jim Meldrum)

A Charm Against Drowning

Jill Rips

After the Stranger Came