Followers of former Fife businesswoman turned novelist Claire MacLeary will be familiar with crime fighting odd couple Maggie Laird and Wilma Harcus, who first appeared in 2017’s McIlvanney Prize-longlisted Cross Purpose.
The unlikely duo of female sleuths, who are women of a certain age, have tackled everything from drugs to people trafficking and money laundering to prostitution.
Now, in her fifth published outing ‘Death Drop’, the characters are back amid the dirtier side of Aberdeen and Dundee tackling gender and changing attitudes.
“This story I set in Aberdeen and Dundee because Maggie’s daughter is at university in Dundee,” explains Claire.
“The theme is gender.
“Although these are two women of a certain age – real ordinary women with money problems, teenage kids and weight problems – I pitched these women to not be like the blonde women detectives in high heels, but to be real relatable women.
“Although these are ordinary women without the benefit of further education or career jobs, it’s not cosy crime – I tackle gritty issues.”
Evolving relationship
Claire’s crime series focuses on the evolving relationship between Maggie and Wilma as private investigators.
However, it does not shy away from tackling quite heavy issues, with gender identity being no exception.
“I’m looking specifically at the difference in attitudes between the generations,” says Claire.
“The storylines – I’ve got one who is a older person where the ‘gender non-conformity fluidity queerness’ issue has been very much hidden.
“And then I’m looking at a child with possible gender dysphoria and looking at how the police react, how the schools react, how the immediate family react.
“This difference in attitude between what happened 20/30/50 years ago and what is happening now.”
Varied career
Born in Glasgow, Claire read English at Strathclyde.
Married to Alistair with two children, she lived in Edinburgh, London, Aberdeen then Ceres in Fife for 30 years.
After a career in newspaper and TV advertising then HR, post-children she opened seven retail businesses in Aberdeen and St Andrews.
Having had short stories published in magazines and after doing an MLitt with distinction in creative writing from Dundee University, her debut crime novel was published by Saraband in 2017.
She currently lives between Edinburgh and St Andrews.
Thinking back to her creative writing course at Dundee University, she doesn’t think such courses can teach people how to write.
However, she does think they teach disciplines like editing and make the write more self-critical.
This, she says, hopefully results in a better end product.
“There are things I do remember from Professor Kirsty Gunn,” she adds.
“I remember her saying ‘make every word count’, and that stayed with me.
“The other thing she used to say was ‘one more thing’ at the end of the story. I would say ‘what the hell is she talking about’? She would mean I hadn’t quite tidied it off!”
Looking to the future
When it comes to a long-running series, Claire says it can be difficult to keep things going indefinitely.
Her publisher says there has been ongoing interest from TV production companies – something which, she says, authors tend to “take with a pinch of salt” as these often fall through.
She’s working on a “cosy crime” series.
However, with Saraband now publishing in the USA, there’s a plan to launch the Laird and Harcus series there in March.
If there’s good feedback, another novel in the series may emerge from there.
*Death Drop by Claire MacLeary, published by Saraband, is out now. RRP £9.99
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