Bloody Scotland Days 2 and 3 - and an unintended consequence.

I went to two events on Saturday  with my friend D, and they were both a huge improvement on the Friday one, which was a bit of a relief. 

One was this 

I didn't think, going in, that I had read any of these authors but once the event began I realised that I had read a Simon Marks and been distinctly unimpressed. And after listening to him I'm still not going to go and read any more. My friend bought a Sarah Hilary and I bought a Patricia Gibney and once we've each read our own we're going to swap.  Both she and Sarah Hilary were interesting and thoughtful and I think I will enjoy both their books. Report in due course, naturally. Meanwhile D and I were both very taken with Patricia Gibney's plaid jumper and took the time afterwards to tell her so. D later found it on line and it is eye wateringly expensive. As in mother of the bride outfit type expensive. So I won't be buying one, but I still like it. 

The afternoon one was this 

and I was scoring 2 out of 3 here as I used to read James Oswald, and indeed went to an author event with him at Orkney Library which I'm sure must feature on the blog somewhere,  until his police procedurals became more Woo Woo Weird than I am comfortable with my police procedurals being ; in fact make that much more since I'm fairly intolerant of that sort of thing. Apparently it's known as genre blending and is very much a current publishing trend - who knew? Caro Ramsay was excellent; very funny, very down to earth. I assumed I would enjoy listening to her as I enjoy her books and I bought a pre-signed copy of her latest paperback. Nothing sartorial of note here. I didn't take to Mr Andrew James Greig despite his efforts to be self deprecating and funny because neither of those things quite came off ; largely I suspect because at heart he is not a man who feels he should be self deprecating and is doing it under duress. 

I was rather startled to find myself buying three books over the weekend but one of them was part of a Christmas present for someone else, and the other two were both paperbacks so it didn't break the bank. And the last time I bought a new physical book was last September when I treated myself to Natalie Haynes' No Friend to This House, so I'm not exactly on a book buying spree. 

Sunday I was on my own and the first panel I did was Gory Glesga. I thought I hadn't read any of these writers either but in fact I had, since Eve Macrae is aka Lynne Macewen, one of whose books popped up in the August book round up. Frances Crawford was the hero of the hour having managed to carry off both the major prizes of the festival; best debut novel and best crime novel of the year. This was definitely the most enjoyable event I went to, but how could it not be, you put four Glaswegian wordsmiths  on a stage for an hour and you know it's going to be comedy gold. 

And finally I went to this one. I had swithered about this because amongst the murders covered in his book is that of Jamie Bulger which is almost too distressing to contemplate, even now so long after the event, but it also includes Sarah Everard, and her murder and the events after it and the facts that emerged about the Met's so called 'Vetting procedures' made me incandescent with wrath at the time so I decided to go.  I don't watch True Crime programs on TV, nor do I read any True Crime books, so I haven't previously come across Professor Wilson but he's a serious criminologist who has also spent time  in the Prison  Service so he knows what he's talking/writing about.  In fact had I not had a very tight window for catching my train home I would have stayed and bought his book, but as I didn't I can only hope that either Stirling or Alloa library will stock it, if not now then in the future. 

And Bloody Scotland is back next year, and the dates, unsurprisingly,  are already in my calendar. 

The unintended consequence was coming down with a vicious bug which I can only assume I picked up while I was rubbing shoulders with so many people all in one place. It made itself known on Monday, retreated a bit on Tuesday then came crashing back on Wednesday since when I have done very little ( except for a trip to Glasgow which was enabled by a dose of paracetamol,  more on that later.) Today is Sunday and I feel quite a lot better thank goodness but I'm still taking it easy in the hope that proper rest will see the back of it sooner than otherwise. I have at least found the energy to sew up and block the new holiday top though - hooray!