Frank Muir

Turning crime into a crusade

If Festival visitors were asked where they expect Scottish crime novels to be set, a fair few would probably think of Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh first, or Denise Mina’s Glasgow. Others might pick Stuart McBride’s Aberdeen. Certain areas of these places suit the dark grimness necessary for murder most foul. But would anyone come up with St Andrews? Very few, probably. Rarely has such a picturesque spot been used to describe anything more dramatic than a hole in one. But that’s what’s interesting about debut novelist Frank Muir’s Eye For an Eye, a book which seeks to play with the reader’s expectations of what a crime novel is supposed to be.

Rather than being your usual senseless madman let loose in a crazy city, Muir’s murderer is in rather pleasant surroundings and on a moral crusade: the Stabber only goes after wife abusers. And is only interested in one part of the body. Eye for an Eye comes with the Louise Welsh stamp of approval – it came to her attention partly because she judged it the winner of the 2004 Pitlochry Crime Award – and the author of The Cutting Room certainly knows a good quality filthy tale when she reads one. (Rodge Glass)

Recommended Reading: Eye for an Eye introduces us to DI Andy Gilchrist.

13 Aug (with Gillian Galbraith), 6pm, £5 (£3).

More: Books, Book Festival, Crime, Edinburgh Festivals, Eye for an Eye, Fiction, Frank Muir, Non-fiction

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