New Release Spotlight: Meet Me in Malmo by Torquil Macleod.

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Today I am pleased to welcome Torquil Macleod to the blog telling us a bit more about “Meet me in Malmo”

 

Tell us a little bit about what inspired the series and the character of Anita Sundstrom?

I was inspired by my first trip to southern Sweden in 2000. We were visiting our elder son who had just moved there. At the time, I was trying to break into scriptwriting and I thought Sweden would be a good location for crime stories – this was well before the Scandi-crime invasion. On that first trip we stayed with a blonde female detective who has now become one of our greatest friends. I came up with a couple of ideas, one of which featured a blonde female detective. Needless to say the screenwriting career disappeared up a blind alley, so I decided to turn one of the scripts, Meet me in Malmö, into a book. One thing advertising taught me was never waste an idea! Though in this book I use a British character to introduce Sweden to an English-reading audience, it centres round a blonde female detective! When writing the book, I found I became increasingly interested in Anita Sundström’s character – someone who had to work within a team and was not the senior detective like Rebus, Morse, Harry Hole or Kurt Wallander. By being just an ordinary member of the squad it means that there is more scope for tension within the group. Needless to say we’ve been visiting Sweden regularly for 15 years and Anita Sundström has continued to develop.

 

There are some lovely little twists and turns in the story – do you plan the whole thing prior to writing or sometimes let the outcome surprise even you?

With Meet me in Malmö, because it originated from a screenplay treatment, I did have the story mapped out by the time I wrote the book version. But I’m not really a plotter by nature. I sometimes have the first scene or the last, and then work from there. I do like to be surprised. I go in with the attitude that if I have no idea what’s coming next, hopefully the reader won’t have either. It also makes the story more flexible, so it can go off in directions I wasn’t expecting.

 

 Do you have any writing habits?

If you mean routine, then I have a haphazard one. In theory, I try and work through until about six in the evening, but a huge amount of time wasting goes on during the day. Until last year, when I was still working as a freelance copywriter, I had to fit the books in round my work – the odd half hour here, the occasional hour there. So I do tend to write in bursts. But one of the advantages of having spent 36 years writing advertising copy every day is that you never have to wait for the muse to come – you just sit down and write.

 

And what is up next for Anita?

I’ve started on an Anita Sundström short story set around a typical Swedish Christmas. I hope to bring that out in time for the festive season. Then I’m planning to begin the fifth Malmö Mystery, which should come out later next year.

 

 

Favourite fictional character (from any novel)?

I love history, and my favourite character is the despicable Harry Flashman. George MacDonald Fraser’s books are not only wickedly funny but brimming with great history. Above all, I can’t help but admire Fraser’s nerve in nicking someone else’s famous literary character and running amok with it.

 

Best book you have read this year so far?

As part of the research for the latest book, Midnight in Malmö, we went to Berlin. As a result, I’ve just read Antony Beevor’s Berlin: The Downfall 1945. It’s a fascinating, if brutal, read.

Thank you so much!

Review.

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Publication Date: Available Now from Mcnidder and Grace

Source: Publisher review copy

Ewan Strachan is a second-rate journalist working for a third-rate publication in Newcastle. His unfulfilled career is given a potential boost when he meets a one-time friend from university who is appearing at a film festival in Edinburgh. Mick Roslyn is now an acclaimed movie director based in Sweden, married to the glamorous leading lady of most of his films. Mick invites Ewan to ‘Meet me in Malmö’.
On arrival in Malmö, however, Ewan makes a shocking discovery – the lifeless corpse of Roslyn’s wife. She has been strangled.

Enjoyable crime romp featuring new detective on the block Anna Sundstrom, entertaining throughout with some great characters. Yes a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required, most especially with regards to the ending, but overall very good indeed.

The strength in this story comes from the two main characters – Ewan is slightly hapless, when he seizes the opportunity to use old ties to secure a decent interview he ends up embroiled in murder. Anna, the detective on the case is an extremely credible character with surprisingly few issues – she is what she is and she does what she does. Refreshing that the author didnt feel the need to resort to cliche. The interaction between these two formed a great backdrop for the events of the novel – their growing relationship giving a nice little sub plot to sink your teeth into.

The mystery element is well drawn – some great little twists and turns in there, cleverly done and keeps you turning the pages. Yes ok the end I think will divide opinion but for the most part it was solid and highly readable, a great new addition to the crime genre.

Overall then pretty terrific. I will look forward to meeting Anna again.

Find out more here: http://www.torquilmacleodbooks.com/

Purchase Information: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meet-Malm%C3%B6-Inspector-Sundstr%C3%B6m-mysteries/dp/085716113X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427958456&sr=1-1&keywords=meet+me+in+malmo

Happy Reading Folks!

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