doug johnstone

Here I am on the Royal Literary Fund’s podcast, Writers Aloud, talking about writing a rubbish book that never got published. Good times!

In no particular order, here are my favourite books of this year. I reviewed most of them in The Big Issue magazine, if you’re interested. Happy Christmas!

Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman (Portobello)

Sara Gran, The Infinite Blacktop (Faber)

William Boyle, Gravesend (No Exit)

William Boyle, The Lonely Witness (No Exit)

Megan Abbott, Give Me Your Hand (Picador)

George Pelecanos, The Man Who Came Uptown (Orion)

Laura Lippman, Sunburn (Faber)

Willy Vlautin, Don’t Skip Out On Me (Faber)

Amelie Nothomb, Strike Your Heart (Europa)

Nick Drnaso, Sabrina (Granta)

Mikita Brottman, An Unexplained Death (Canongate)

Jeff Tweedy, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) (Faber)

Here’s a lovely article in Crimespree Magazine by S.W. Lauden about crime-writing drummers, of which there are a few of us, it turns out!

Out 16.3.19 in ebook, 16.5.19 in paperback, Orenda Books

Here’s a lovely wee video about the importance of books. I get a line in it, but then get upstaged by my daughter, who gets the punchline at the end! This was put together by the Scottish Book Trust who do amazing work across the country, especially right now during Book Week Scotland. Enjoy!