Dr Marisa Haetzman is an anaesthetist and together with her husband Chris Brookmyre, she writes under the joint pen name Ambrose Parry. The pair will be appearing at Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling 12-14 September. For tickets and further information go to www.bloodyscotland.com
The first book I remember reading:
I don’t have a clear memory of the first book that I read but I do remember reading a lot of Enid Blyton novels as a child, starting with the Secret Seven then moving on to the Famous Five. To be honest, there wasn’t a great deal of choice back then. I think children and young adults are much better served now. We did frequent the local library and once lost a book (much to the consternation of my mother) which was only found again when we moved house. It was a book called The Missing Postman.
A book I recommend to everyone:
This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson is a remarkable historical novel about Robert Fitzroy and his cartographical mission to survey Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego with the naturalist Charles Darwin on board. Any Human Heart by William Boyd takes the reader through the twentieth century in the company of protagonist Logan Mountstuart. The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne which tells the story of a life lived through changing times suffused with compassion, humour and righteous anger.
The best book I have read in this year:
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker was a beautiful novel that stayed with me long after I finished it. It’s an epic story about love, loyalty, commitment and resilience, spanning several decades in the lives of two characters devastated by the same crime. There has been some discussion about whether or not this is a crime novel but for me, all that matters is that it is a great novel.
The book I am most looking forward to:
The Good Liar by Denise Mina. It’s about a forensic scientist who has to confront the fact that her testimony and the evidence she presented in a high-profile murder case were wrong. I think Denise is one of Scotland’s greatest writers, so I’m looking forward to her tackling our assumptions about the infallibility of forensic science with her usual intelligence and panache.
A book I didn’t finish:
It’s hard to admit to this but I struggled to get through Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. I was reading a lot of nineteenth century literature in preparation for writing about the period and Dickens seemed like the obvious choice. I downloaded the novel to my kindle without realising that it was more than eight hundred pages long, testimony to its origins as a serialised story in a Victorian newspaper. In the modern iteration it would be a Netflix show that ran for too many seasons.
An author that has inspired me:
AJ Cronin. I read his books as a teenager and they reinforced my desire to study medicine, making it seem a noble and worthy profession. I was therefore surprised when I re-read The Citadel recently and found that the medical profession was not cast in such a flattering light as I remembered, including a depiction of the protagonist feeling justified in slapping a woman who, to his mind, was being hysterical.
The book I am reading now:
Butter by Asako Yuzuki. It’s a sumptuous novel about attitudes to women in modern Japanese society, specifically with regard to gender roles, body weight and food. This is conveyed through the developing relationship between a young journalist and a convicted serial killer, the latter awaiting a retrial on her charges of having murdered several of her wealthy lovers. A word of warning: it is a novel that will constantly make you hungry, and justified in eating anything you desire.
The Death of Shame by Amberose Parry (Aka, Marisa Haetzman and Chris Brookmyre) is out now.
Read more of The Good Books here.
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