Frederic Lindsay

Frederic Lindsay

Frederic Lindsay (1933-) is a Scottish crime writer, born in Glasgow and living in Edinburgh. He has been a full-time writer since 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant. He has been active in a number of literary organisations including the Society of Authors, International PEN (a worldwide writers' association promoting freedom of expression) and the Scottish Arts Council. In addition to novels he also writes for TV, radio and the theatre. Two of his novels have been made into films.

DI Jim Meldrum series

"Meldrum was one of those men defined by their job. Assuming he had a private life at all, it was hard to imagine what it might be. A glance to the side gave... a glimpse of the raw-boned profile, big nose, long chin, thin mouth, giving nothing away. The hands surrounding the steering wheel were thick-fingered, old scars white on the back of the nearer, hands shaped by grasping tools, a workman’s hands.”" The Endings Man, 2005

Lindsay has written seven novels over the course of ten years featuring Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum, an officer with Lothian and Borders Police, as their main protagonist. He was originally intended as a one-off study into the fate of a whistleblower and the personal cost of integrity. But Lindsay's publishers at the time, Hodder and Stoughton, commissioned further works and so the series was born.

The Meldrum books are classic police procedurals, dark in tone, and which sometimes exploit the convention of having the identity of the perpetrator known to the reader before it becomes clear to the detectives. They feature considerable insights into the character and mental processes of the protagonist and into the effect that his work as a detective has on his personal life; this is another key feature of this genre. They also project a strong sense of place through the use of locations in Edinburgh and around Scotland and through the inclusion of distinctively Scottish speech and cultural references. These are all characteristics that make the Meldrum novels comparable to the highly-regarded Italian-based Aurelio Zen series by fellow crime writer Michael Dibdin.

In a 2002 article for the Association for Scottish Literary Studies Lindsay described his work on the Meldrum books as a challenge in developing a complex, rounded and psychologically interesting character within the form and conventions of the detective genre.

Other works

Lindsay has described his novels as "differ [ing] markedly in tone and subject matter." They have themes including coming of age and sexual discovery ("My Life as a Man"), the death of a sibling ("Jill Rips") and psychosis ("After the Stranger Came").

In 2005 his novel "Brond" was nominated in a List Magazine/Scottish Book Trust list of the 100 best Scottish books of all time.

Involvement in films

Two of Lindsay's works have been made into films. In 1987 "Brond" became a made-for-TV movie directed by fellow Scotsman Michael Caton-Jones and featuring the actors Stratford Johns and John Hannah. In 1999 "Jill Rips" was made into a major Hollywood film (also known in the USA as "Jill the Ripper" for its video release and "Tied Up" for its TV debut) directed by Anthony Hickox and starring Dolph Lundgren.

Bibliography

Novels featuring DI Jim Meldrum

*Tremor of Demons (2007)
*The Endings Man (2005)
*Darkness In My Hand (2001)
*Death Knock (2000)
*Idle Hands (1999)
*A Kind of Dying (1998)
*Kissing Judas (1997)

Other works by Frederic Lindsay

*My Life As A Man (2006)
*After the Stranger Came (1992)
*A Charm Against Drowning (1988)
*Jill Rips (1987)
*Brond (1984)
*And Be The Nations Again (Poems) (1975)

External links

* [http://www.internationalpubmarket.com/clients/abu/books/AuthorDetail.aspx?id=11786 Publisher’s biography of Lindsay]
* [http://www.societyofauthors.net/soa/fullrecord.php4?writerno=73 Society of Authors entry]
*
* [http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Scotlit/ASLS/Practising_Crime.html Association for Scottish Literary Studies: Practising Crime for a Living (article by the author)]
* [http://www.list.co.uk/bestbooks/bestbookslist.html List Magazine/Scottish Book Trust list of the 100 best Scottish books of all time]
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/frederic-lindsay/ Fantastic Fiction]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Frederic M. Sackett — (1924) Frederic Mosley Sackett (* 17. Dezember 1868 in Providence, Rhode Island; † 18. Mai 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker ( …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Frederic Mosley Sackett — Fotografen lichten Frederic Mosley Sackett nach seinem Amtsantritt als Botschafter in Berlin im Februar 1930 ab. Frederic Mosley Sackett (* 17. Dezember 1868 in Providence, Rhode Island; † 18. Mai 1941 in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Frederic Sackett — Fotografen lichten Frederic Mosley Sackett nach seinem Amtsantritt als Botschafter in Berlin im Februar 1930 ab. Frederic Mosley Sackett (* 17. Dezember 1868 in Providence, Rhode Island; † 18. Mai 1941 in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Frederic Forrest — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Forrest. Frederic Forrest …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Lindsay — This article is about the American politician. For other people of this name, see John Lindsay (disambiguation). John Lindsay Lindsay carrying in his budget in April 1966. 103rd Mayor of New York City …   Wikipedia

  • Arto Lindsay — (born May 28, 1953, Richmond, Virginia) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He has a distinctive soft voice and an often noisy, self taught guitar style comprised almost entirely of extended techniques,… …   Wikipedia

  • Norah Lindsay — by George Frederic Watts, ca 1891 Norah Lindsay (née Bourke) (26 April 1873–1948) was a socialite garden designer who between the World wars became a major influence on garden design and planting in the United Kingdom and on the Continent …   Wikipedia

  • James Lindsay (British Army officer) — Lieutenant General Sir James Lindsay KCMG (25 August 1815 – 13 August 1874) was a British Army officer and member of Clan Lindsay.Born at Muncaster Castle in 1815, James was the second son of James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford. Educated at Eton …   Wikipedia

  • Coutts Lindsay — The Grosvenor Gallery . Caricature by Jopling published in Vanity Fair in 1883. Sir Coutts Lindsay, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1824 7 May 1913, Kingston upon Thames, England), was a British artist and watercolourist. Contents …   Wikipedia

  • George Frederic Watts — Autoportrait (1879), huile sur toile National Portrait Gallery …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”