Author: alison cross
Alex North
Mark Edwards
Doug Johnstone
Johana Gustawsson
Tariq Ashkanani
Alexandra Sokoloff
Ambrose Parry
CJ Tudor
Welcome to Bute Noir 2022!
Bute Noir 2020 | Update
We’ve some news.
It’s not news we want to send and it’s not news you want to hear. But sadly, it’s something that has become increasingly inevitable as the past month has worn on.
We are, with heavy heart, having to cancel Bute Noir for 2020.
The continuing lockdown and the probability that even when lockdown is over, some social distancing restrictions will remain in place, mean that the likelihood of us being able to gather at the end of July just isn’t realistic.
We really wish we could give you something to look forward to, it’s something we all need right now, but we need to be practical and responsible. Our priority must be the health and well-being of the people of Bute, and bringing ferry loads of visitors from the mainland couldn’t be justified in the current climate or even if things are slightly eased.
It’s so tempting to tell you the fabulous line-up of crime writers who’d agreed to come to the island this summer but that would be just piling on the agony in the style of Bullseye… here’s what you could have won. Instead, we’ll extend an invitation to all of them to come to Bute in 2021 and aim to make that the best festival yet.
We are very hopeful though that you won’t have to wait that long to see some of your favourite crime writers. We will work hard to bring pop-up events to Bute once it’s safe to do so, to bridge the gap until next year’s festival. We will, of course, give you details of those as soon as we have them.
We’re also planning some virtual events – and we’ll talk you through the technology if you need it. First up, for those of you that enjoy our Saturday night quiz, we’re planning a live online version of that featuring festival favourites very soon. Watch this space for the date.
Again, we’re sorry to bring you bad news – believe us it hurts to do so – but we thank you for your support of our first four festivals and can’t wait to see you at the fifth. So put a date in your diary for next year.
July 30-August 1 2021 – the best Bute Noir yet.
Craig, Karen, Anne and Patricia
Ambrose Parry | 24 September 2018
Hot on the heels of their Bute Noir weekend success, Ambrose Parry return to Bute to talk about their first collaborative writing project, published this month, The Way Of All Flesh.
7pm, 24 September, Rothesay Library – Stuart Street, Rothesay,
Tickets £4 from Print Point and Rothesay Library.
Sure to be a sell out event, so don’t delay!
Four Blokes In Search Of A Plot | 19 October 2018
Myra Duffy & Alanna Knight | Bute Museum | 2 August 2018
Last night saw ‘writing machine’ Alanna Knight in conversation with Myra Duffy in the welcoming setting of Bute Museum.
Continue reading Myra Duffy & Alanna Knight | Bute Museum | 2 August 2018
2018 Authors
To discover more about each of our authors, please click on the red ‘Menu’ on the top left of the screen which will take you through to the rest of the Bute Noir website. Under ‘Authors 2018’ there is a page for each author and details of the sessions that they are taking part in.
See you there!
An Evening With Alanna Knight | 2 August 2018
Alanna Knight MBE will be returning to Bute Noir 2018 having been at our inaugural festival in 2016.
Although Bute Noir is 3rd to 5th August this year, Alanna has kindly agreed to do a pop up event at Bute Museum the evening before all our events kick off and as she has sold out her event “Bloody Bute” with Myra Duffy and Michael J. Malone already, it is maybe just as well!
Alanna will be discussing her latest novel ‘Murder Lies Waiting’ with Myra Duffy which as you can see from the front cover, is set on Bute. Tickets are £4 and available from Bute Museum, Print Point and Rothesay Library.
Sold Out Events | Bute Noir 2018
Bute Noir officially launched at the end of May and within the first week, over 50% of the tickets had been sold.
As of today’s date, 70% of the tickets have gone and the following events are sold out:
‘From Screen To Page To Screen’ with Helen Fitzgerald and Alexandra Sokoloff , 7.30pm – 8.30pm on Friday 3 August.
Rothesay Library 9pm – 10pm Friday 4 August – Chris Brookmyre interviewed by Luca Veste
Rothesay Library on Saturday 4 August at 2pm – 3pm for Our People And Places with Craig Robertson and Denzil Meyrick
‘Is It Always A Crime’ with Graeme Macrae Burnet and Michael J Malone 5pm – 6pm on Saturday 4 August.
‘Bloody Bute’ with Myra Duffy, Alanna Knight and Michael J Malone – 12.45pm – 1.45pm on Sunday 5 August.
‘The Last Stand’ with Craig Robertson, Alex Gray, Anna Smith and Luca Veste – Sunday 5.30pm, Bute Museum.
‘Northern Stars’ with Ysra Sigurdardóttir and Alex Gray at 7.30pm – 8.30pm, Rothesay Library, Saturday 4 August
‘Now For Something Completely Different – Chris Brookmyre, Helen Fitzgerald, Abir Mukkerjee and Luca Veste Library – 3.30pm – 4.30pm Saturday 5 August.
‘Time’s Up’ Museum -, Alexandra Sokoloff, Sarah Hilary, Mari Hannah and Ysra Sigurdardottir 4 August, 12.30pm – 1.30pm.
Friday’s Noir at the Bar which happens at the Black Bull is also completely SOLD OUT as is the walking tour with Myra Duffy on Saturday morning!
Tickets are really going fast!
Ian Rankin sponsors Bute Noir!
We’re absolutely thrilled that the following news story has been picked up by The Daily Record as well as The Buteman!
Bute Noir is flush with success after securing sponsorship from from one of the most familiar names in crime fiction – Ian Rankin.
Bute Noir 2018 Lineup!
Here is our line-up for Bute Noir 2018! More details to follow!
Craig Robertson | Luca Veste | Rothesay Library
Bute Noir’s founder, Craig Robertson, in conversation with Luca Veste at Rothesay Library on 22 March. They both have new books out – The Photographer (Craig Roberston) and the chilling Bone Keeper (Luca Veste).
Not a huge number of tickets left, so book now to avoid disappointment.
Bute Noir Crime Reading Challenge
CRIME BOOK CHALLENGE 2018
Can you read at least one of each by the end of 2018?
1 … with a one word title
2 … published in 2018
3 … written before 1950.
4 … a collection of short stories
5 … by a Scottish author
6 … set in Scotland
7 … set in the future
8 … with a female investigator
9 … with real life crimes
10 … translated from a foreign language
11 … set in America
12 … set in neither the UK nor America
13 … whose author has the same first name as you
14 … an author you have never read before
15 … that is in the ‘cosy crime’ genre
16 … that is a military thriller
17 … turned into a movie or TV series
18 … in audio book form
19 … written for children or young adults
20 … with a red spine
21 … that has won an award
22 … by an author who has died in the past 12 months
23 … recommended to you by a friend
24 … biography of a real life killer or real life crime solver
25 … with a title of more than six words
26 … from a charity shop
27 … that has been a banned book in at least one country in the world
28 … that you have started before and never finished
29 … written by an author of colour
30 … by a Bute Noir 2018 author
www.butenoir.co.uk
Chris Brookmyre | Rothesay Library | 25 January 2018
The Deaths of December | SJI Holliday
THE DEATHS OF DECEMBER
SUSI HOLLIDAY
Mulholland Books
The strap-line on my Review Copy is ‘Have yourself a deadly little Christmas’ and a blood-spattered broken bauble. Has she been round my house when I’m trying to put up my glass tree ornaments? There’s always bloody-fingered carnage round at mine …
What does the book tell us about itself?:
When an advent calendar is delivered to the police station, no one takes any notice, until they open it to find a murder behind every door.
Santa’s not the only one in red this Christmas …
It looks like a regular advent calendar. Until DC Becky Greene starts opening doors… and discovers a crime scene behind almost every one. The police hope it’s a prank. Because if it isn’t, a murderer has just surfaced – someone who’s been killing for twenty years. But why now? And why has he sent it to this police station? As the country relaxes into festive cheer, Greene and DS Eddie Carmine must race against time to catch the killer. Because there are four doors left, and four murders will fill them…”
Let me introduce you to your two new favourite coppers – fresh-out-of-the box Detective Constable Becky Greene and the older and more experienced DI Eddie Carmine. They both have a penchant for a fried breakfast and are as sharp as tacks when it comes to working out the clues.
I’ve not read anything by Susi Holliday before and only encountered her for the first time at Bute Noir and I was struck by her great (dark!) sense of humour, so I was delighted to discover that sense of humour sneaks into The Deaths of December too.It’s not a comedy book, but there are nice light touches to break up the many body-strewn advent calendar doors. This might be the first of Susi’s books that I’ve read, but it most certainly won’t be the last.
We start on a Friday with Nine More Sleeps To Go. Right from the outset there is a sense of a race-against-time. From the get go, all the things you love about Christmas are here, but skewed from their regular jolly annual appearance. The Advent Calendar count down which always fills one with excited anticipation now becomes an ominous clock against which the police officers race. There are craft fairs, there is snow and there is murder with (jingle) bells on.
The story is told from several points of view – first of all we meet the mysterious Photographer before moving the other main characters Becky, Carly and Eddie. Only the photographer speaks in the first person which gives us access to more information than our two detectives have. Will they puzzle things out in time?
At the back of your mind you are aware that the story is winding up at Two More Sleeps and, Ding Dong Merrily on High, we’re NOT quite done yet! What about One More Sleep?! Don’t stop reading before the Epilogue or you’ll miss the dead cat bounce and full resolution of the story.
I was up ALL night reading this Winter Tale as it drew me forward to its snow-sprinkled conclusion. Honestly, my eyes were sore. It was GREAT.
Who did I love the best? I loved all the characters in this book, to be honest. There was some interesting insights into Becky’s past and Eddie Carmine’s home life is not exactly happy. They are very likeable and realistic creations with a good line in banter. You are willing Carmine and Greene to catch The Photographer before he pulls focus and trains his lens a little closer to home…
What did I love most about this book? I do love when an author can make you feel compassion for a killer yet you are still desperate for that killer to be caught. That’s a skill in itself! If pressed, I would say that I loved the character of Carly best of all. I don’t want to say too much because she really is important to the plot, but I really felt for her and the life that she has found herself in.
Get it and read it as a little Christmas treat to yourself!
Merry Christmas from everyone at Bute Noir!