Veteran author Denise Mina and newbie Frankie Boyle discuss what makes a great crime novel, celebrity authors getting in on the act and their shared affection for comics
The heat is murderous in a sweltering photography studio just off north London’s Caledonian Road, a fitting locale for the meeting of two Scots: the bestselling crime writer Denise Mina and the comedian and now fellow crime novelist Frankie Boyle. While they don’t know each other well, the two have many friends in common where they live only a mile apart in Glasgow.
With his red hair and pale skin, Boyle looks particularly uncomfortable in the 30C-plus temperatures, and I half expect the punishing conditions to trigger his notoriously acerbic observational skills.
