Denise Mina presents Ardal O'Hanlon
Sunday 20th September - 13:30
Careful now. Much-loved comedian and actor Ardal O’Hanlon will be neither small nor far away but on stage in the Albert Halls to discuss his crime fiction debut. The star of Father Ted, My Hero, and Death in Paradise has previously written two novels but has now turned to crime with A Plot to Die For, the first in a dazzling new mystery series.
It’s small-town Ireland meets big-time murder as a celebrity gardener tries to solve a killing or two amid the fanatical fever of the annual Tidy Towns competition.
Ardal will be in conversation with guest programmer Denise Mina.
Tickets £14.75/£13.75 incl bf
I have loved Ardal as a stand-up comedian ever since I heard him tell this joke on TV:
"So condoms, they're useless, aren't they? They're useless and they're ineffective and they burst and your stomach just can't cope with the sudden impact of two kilos of cocaine, eh?"
I've seen him perform many times, but a lesser-known fact about him is that he is also an author. He was here to discuss his new book, "A Plot To Die For".
His previous books featured crimes but weren't marketed as crime novels. This one was, quite deliberately. Ardal isn't so keen on the term cosy crime, but agrees it fits that genre. He wrote the book with the intention of it becoming a series, but had to do a lot of research into gardening, as he is not much into it in real life - certainly not enough to pull off pretending to be one of the nation's top 4 TV gardening experts.
Originally, he had the idea for the second murder in the book while working on Death in Paradise. He kept it to himself, though, as if he'd told it to the producers, they'd probably have used it themselves in the programme.
When he writes, he blocks off six months to complete the draft, working rigidly from ten till five each day. He outlines using 'lily pads', as he calls them, knowing he has to hop from pad to pad to reach the conclusion. Then, he combs through the work to ensure all the threads tie up.
Denise, again, was a fantastic interviewer, swearing occasionally but affectionately. She was fully invested in drawing out the best from a slightly shy performer.
And that was all I did this year at Bloody Scotland. Five events, but still worth the travelling.
My pal Belinda Bauer knows how to back a great debut author and gave this quote to Frances Crawford's "A Bad, Bad Place":
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