Police Scotland in crime-writer James Oswald's Edinburgh is a woman's world

Author James Oswald's Edinburgh, the one kept safe from crime and other inexplicable threats by DI Tony McLean and his team, is instantly recognisable while ever so slightly skewed from the city we all know.

Crime-writer James Oswald with the North British, or is it The Balmoral, in the background

For example, while readers of a certain age will easily relate to the North British Hotel as an iconic Capital landmark, others will only ever have known it as The Balmoral, a name it has now borne for 31 years. As the crime-writer prepares for the publication of What Will Burn, the eleventh novel in his supernatural crime series, he's happy to explain the nuances of his Edinburgh.

"Calling it the North British is quite deliberate," he says, adding with a knowing smile, "I have had proof-readers change North British to Balmoral and then I change it back again. It's my way of saying this isn't the real Edinburgh, which gives me leeway if I get things wrong."

In What Will Burn, Oswald’s detective finds himself investigating a series of mysterious deaths after the charred remains of an elderly woman are discovered in a burned-out gamekeepers cottage in woodland, west of Edinburgh, but this will not be the only case of death by fire McLean and his team will face...

What Will Burn

Though Oswald's protagonist may be male, the 53-year-old has a reputation for writing strong female characters (his other crime series features DC Constance Fairchild) and in the latest book, McLean finds himself surrounded by female officers, another deliberate choice by the writer, reflecting the realities of policing today and some way removed from the early novels in which policing was still very much a man's world.

"If you read any crime fiction from 10 or 15 years ago, it is very much a man's world and any woman in it is there for them to harass or take the piss out of,” reflects the writer, “I thought it would be good to turn that on its head. I read an article some time ago that said more and more women were going over to plain clothes because the men just weren't interested anymore, they'd rather wear the uniform and get the over-time. That stuck with me, but I also quite liked the idea of seeing how Tony and the other male officers reacted to having more and more female detectives."

One of those characters, DC Janie Harrison, was introduced in book seven, Written In Bones, and is a tribute to one of the women in his life, reveals Oswald, a woman who helped fire his love of books from an early age.

"I don't do long term planning, but when I noticed my books had evolved into a woman's world I thought, 'We can push this a little bit more'. So when I needed a new DC, Detective Janey Harrison turned up. Janey Harrison is actually my godmother, who has brought me book tokens for my birthday and Christmas every year for as long as I can remember and still does, even though I'm going to be 54 this year,” he laughs. "Naming a character after her was a thank you to her, which meant the character had to be female. Harrison proved very popular and people wanted more of her..."

James Oswald crafts a novel down on the farm

Another favourite of readers is Oswald’s mysterious medium, Madame Rose. “She was meant to be a throwaway character in the first book,” he admits, “but lots of people said to me she was brilliant. Now she comes back regularly and is really fun to write.”

Both Rose and Harrison now straddle both Oswald’s creations, peopling the world of Con Fairchild too. The cross-over is a reflection of his comic book origins, explains the writer.

"I started off writing comics many years ago and in comics that happens quite a lot. So that has always been in the background when I am writing. Actually, when I started writing the first Con Fairchild book I hadn't really considered it happening in the same world as the McLean books as she was going to be based in London. Then one of the assistant editors at Wildfire, my publishers, said, 'Is Con ever going to meet Tony McLean?' and I thought, 'There's no reason why she shouldn't.'

"That kicked into the character; how would she meet him? She'd have to go up to Edinburgh, so there had to be a Scottish connection, so she went to university in Edinburgh... and her family has Scottish connections, so they have a house there... and the book kind of evolved from that one simple question from an assistant editor."

He continues, “What I haven't done yet is have Con Fairchild meet Tony McLean and there's a good reason for that. If it was in a Con Fairchild book, she would see Tony McLean... and I have no idea what he looks like because all the books are from his point of view. I don't actually think it's important what Tony looks like. That's for other people to decide as they read the book and people have very different ideas of how he looks, usually depending on who their favourite TV star is."

The good news for fans of McLean is that a new investigation is already on the way, and although Oswald can't share the title just yet, he does reveal it will take his detective to Leith. "I'm writing the twelfth book just now - I read that they were doing excavations down by the old Leith kirk and they found a body in a pit… somebody pointed out that's not far from where Madame Rose lives and that just kicked off the questions in my head... Who put the body there? So in the next book we will find out a lot more about Madame Rose."

Read exclusive extracts from What Will Burn over the next four days in the Edinburgh Evening News.

What Will Burn, by James Oswald, is published by Wildfire, on February 18

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