Welsh, Louise 1965-

views updated

Welsh, Louise 1965-

PERSONAL:

Born 1965, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Education: University of Glasgow, M.A., M.Litt.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Glasgow, Scotland.

CAREER:

Author. Teaches creative writing at Anniesland College and the University of Glasgow; broadcaster for BBC Radio 4. Owner of a bookstore for eight years.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award, Crime Writers' Association, Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award, both 2002, and Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award, 2003, all for The Cutting Room; Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award, 2004; Hawthornden fellowship, 2005; Bamberg residency, British Council Scotland, 2006.

WRITINGS:

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

Tamburlaine Must Die, Canongate (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2004.

The Bullet Trick, Canongate (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including London Observer.

ADAPTATIONS:

The Cutting Room and Tamburlaine Must Die were adapted as plays; The Bullet Trick has been optioned for film by Kudos productions.

SIDELIGHTS:

Louise Welsh's mystery novels contain a violent mix of sex and detection. In her debut novel, 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 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 estate of wealthy, recently deceased Roddy McKindless, Rilke cannot 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 pornographic 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 … witty, self-aware and oddly vulnerable," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Caroline Mann, writing in the 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 to be "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."

Welsh reimagines the mysterious final days of celebrated sixteenth-century British poet and dramatist Christopher Marlowe in Tamburlaine Must Die, "a hard, sharp little rapier of a thriller/mystery that packs a punishing schedule of sex, violence, wheeling and double-dealing into its brief length," remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor. Presented as an excerpt from Marlowe's journal, the novella recounts the playwright's efforts to determine who is behind a series of threatening verses signed by Tamburlaine, the protagonist of his first play. Charged with heresy and believed to be a government spy, Marlowe must clear his name or face imprisonment. "Welsh leaves us guessing about who is pulling the strings and nudges the story from a tale of detection and discovery to something murkier," commented New York Times Book Review critic Charles Taylor. According to Daniel Swift, writing in the Nation, "every line of Tamburlaine Must Die is informed by a thorough grasp of not only the day-to-day of Marlowe's life but also a sympathetic willingness to imagine the in-between."

The desperate acts of a second-rate stage magician lead to murder in The Bullet Trick, Welch's 2006 thriller. While performing at a police inspector's retirement party, William Wilson, a down-on-his-luck Glaswegian conjuror, is pressured by an old acquaintance into pilfering an envelope from the officer's pocket. When the acquaintance and his lover are found dead later that evening, Wilson realizes the envelope contains a murderous secret, and he flees to Berlin, where he establishes an act at a seedy club and meets an American dancer, Sylvie, with ties to the criminal underworld. According to New Statesman contributor Killian Fox: "What happens in Berlin is so traumatic that, when Wilson returns to Glasgow, he makes a determined bid for alcoholic oblivion. But he only succeeds in attracting more trouble." Though some critics believed Wilson to be a less engaging creation than Rilke, the protagonist of Welsh's debut work, The Bullet Trick received generally strong reviews. "The burlesque glamour of the semi-erotic cabaret acts in Berlin are painted in adoring detail, and everywhere characters are nailed with a hammer," observed Financial Times contributor Susan Elderkin. Evelyn Beck, writing in the Library Journal, found that "Welsh has a flair for language, a knack for capturing the seediest and sexiest of hotspots, and a convincing male perspective."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2003, Joanne Wilkinson, review of The Cutting Room, p. 1150.

Bookseller, March 14, 2003, review of The Cutting Room; March 17, 2006, Benedicte Page, "Conjuring with Crime," p. 19.

Financial Times, July 15, 2006, Susan Elderkin, "Fiction—Magical Realism, Burlesque, Cabaret and Blood Star in Louise Welsh's Gritty, Compelling Crime Novel," review of The Bullet Trick, p. 32.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2003, review of The Cutting Room, p. 25; December 1, 2004, review of Tamburlaine Must Die, p. 1115; May 15, 2006, review of The Bullet Trick, p. 493.

Library Journal, April 1, 2003, Caroline Mann, review of The Cutting Room, p. 134; December 1, 2004, Joseph M. Eagan, review of Tamburlaine Must Die, p. 106; July 1, 2006, Evelyn Beck, review of The Bullet Trick, p. 73.

Nation, March 21, 2005, Daniel Swift, "The Man Who Wasn't There," review of Tamburlaine Must Die, p. 27.

New Statesman, July 24, 2006, Killian Fox, "Nights at the Circus," review of The Bullet Trick, p. 58.

New York Times Book Review, March 30, 2003, Sophie Harrison, "The Pictures in the Attic," p. 5; February 13, 2005, Charles Taylor, "Play Boy," review of Tamburlaine Must Die, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, February 24, 2003, review of The Cutting Room, p. 50; January 17, 2005, review of Tamburlaine Must Die, p. 35; June 12, 2006, review of The Bullet Trick, p. 32.