Cromarty prepares for weekend of dark deeds

SCARCELY have the blood stains dried after Scotland’s first festival of crime writing than the Black Isle has revealed its own weekend of events devoted to dark deeds.

The Cromarty crime and thriller weekend, which takes place over the weekend of 12th to 14th April 2013 at Cromarty Stables, takes advantage of novelist Ian Rankin’s decision to buy a house in the village.

Britain’s best-selling crime writer will be joined by two other internationally successful authors who appeared at last weekend’s Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in Stirling, Fife-born Val McDermid, creator of television’s "Wire In The Blood" and Anne Perry, who specialises in Victorian murder mysteries and who lives in Portmahomack.

Joining them will be English author David Hewson, a guest at August’s Inverness Book Festival, the author of the Rome-set Nic Costa series and the novelisation of Danish television hit "The Killing".

While the authors appear in talks and workshops, there will also be a chance for the public to play sleuth themselves and follow in the footsteps of Rankin’s Inspector Rebus or McDermid’s criminal profiler Tony Hill and solve a murder mystery of their own at the Royal Hotel.

Caroline Hewat of Cromarty Arts Trust confirmed it was having Rankin move to the village that inspired the idea of Cromarty’s first celebration of crime writing.

"Ian has a holiday home here, but he has been willing to get involved in some of the activities in the village already, like the film festival," she explained.

"He was very positive and on that basis I was able to pull in the other writers. I was quite surprised that they all said yes so easily.

"We were thinking of something exciting and different to do in 2013. We do a lot of musical events and visual arts, but I’ve been very keen to get involved in the literary scene as well. A year ago we had Iain Finlay MacLeod, the Gaelic writer, and I think he found the experience quite exciting."

At the moment the crime and thriller weekend is still in the planning stages and Hewat has not ruled out adding other authors. She also hopes that local writers will support the event and benefit from hearing from the professionals.

"I’m very keen that we use these writers to help these several groups of local writers," Hewat said.

"I do a lot of painting and when you are working with someone you really admire, that can feel pretty inspiring.

"There are a lot of writers’ groups in the area and whatever genre you are writing in you will be dealing with the same problems and challenges."

With a new relationship with the Scottish Book Trust, the Cromarty Arts Trust also hopes to be involved in more literary events in the future, especially with children.

While writers will have the chance to learn from Rankin, McDermid, Perry and Hewson, local thespians can also play their part in providing the suspects at the murder mystery dinner.

The Friday night event is being put together by theatre director Jon Palmer, another recent arrival in Cromarty.

"He was keen to get involved," Hewat added.

"He’s working with one of the writers in the village and will be putting together a script, then he’ll see the actors and will be able to work out from his own experience what their strengths are and what they will be able to do."

As a break from all the — fictional — bloodshed there are also plans for a ceilidh during the crime and mystery weekend.

Further details about the weekend will follow from Cromarty Arts Trust.