Episode: Ep388: Open Book in Edinburgh - Crime Writing with Val McDermid, Abir Mukherjee and Lucy Ribchester

Mariella Frostrup investigates crime writing from the heart of the Edinburgh Festival. Crime today ranges from psychological thrillers to so-called Cosy Crime whodunnits. With more choice than ever before, why are writers still drawn to expanding and re-inventing the genre and what’s its appeal for readers? Mariella is joined by doyenne of the genre, Val McDermid, who publishes her thirtieth novel Out of Bounds this month. Her cold case investigator DCI Karen Pirie returns with gusto to discover the truth behind complex questions of family and identity. Also on stage are two relative newcomers in the field. Lucy Ribchester whose novel The Amber Shadows is a thrilling, mystery adventure set in the secret world of Bletchley Park and Abir Mukherjee's A Rising Man takes us to steamy Calcutta at the time of the British Raj.