Welsh, Louise

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WELSH, Louise

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Glasgow, Scotland. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Canongate Books, 14 High St., Edinburgh EH1 1TE, Scotland.

CAREER:

Book dealer and author.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John Creasey Memorial Dagger award, and Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award, both 2002, both for The Cutting Room.

WRITINGS:

The Cutting Room, Canongate (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2002, Grove (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including London Observer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Glasgow, Scotland native Louise Welsh has branched out from her long-time career as a second-hand, out-of-print, and antiquarian book dealer to publish a novel. In The Cutting Room she offers readers "a fresh voice and an arresting plot in this darkly atmospheric portrait of Glasgow's mean streets," according to Joanne Wilkinson writing in Booklist.

Rilke, the protagonist of The Cutting Room, is a gay Glasgow-based auctioneer of questionable character. When the opportunity arises for him to acquire the high-end estate of wealthy and recently deceased Roddy McKindless, Rilke can not pass up the offer, despite the late gentleman's sister's insistence that everything be cleaned out immediately. While going through McKindless's belongings, Rilke discovers an extensive and alarming pornography library. Some of the photos in particular stand out, and Rilke soon realizes that McKindless appears to have been involved in the "snuff" murder of a young woman. While Rilke cannot determine whether the woman was actually killed, these disturbing images prompt him to investigate the possible murder.

Rilke's search for information leads him to the depths of the pornography industry. Thanks to some helpful information from his transvestite, drug-dealing friend Les, Rilke penetrates the city's pornography underground, and encounters porno-film producers and aspiring "actresses." Learning that McKindless was known for enjoying bloodletting, Rilke continues his search, and ultimately finds himself in a situation that could cost him his life.

"Rilke is hardly a likable character, but as Welsh presents him, he is so witty, self-aware and oddly vulnerable to the occasional decent indiscret that he becomes disarming," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer, although the critic added that the novel's conclusion "is oddly muted and unconvincing." Caroline Mann, writing in Library Journal commented that in The Cutting Room Welsh "develops a colorful cast of supporting characters and lays out the plot in just the right way to create a maximum amount of suspense; an unexpected twist at the end is well executed." In Kirkus Reviews, a contributor found Welsh's protagonist "a shadowy figure as frustrating as he is fascinating to observe," and dubbed The Cutting Room "a debut crime novel with aspirations." Booklist contributor Joanne Wilkinson enjoyed the novel, writing that "Welsh offers an immensely appealing cast of characters" and her "Glasgow is a desperado's paradise, filled with sodden pubs and seedy sex clubs."