Bloody Scotland Programme Launch 2019

Here, we go, all ready for the Bloody Scotland 2019 Crime Writing Festival.

I was dressed in my Casey Jones gear as I had heard there would be a train and that Val McDermid would be driving it.

Maybe I should have worn my crash helmet.

It has been said, many times that trying to organise a group of crime writers is like trying to knit spaghetti.

Or herd cats.

Or get Craig Robertson out the pub.

                                                                            Val borrowed my hat. We then embarked on a very long and complicated game of crime writers Jenga.  Get as many crime writers on the train as you can,  within a very narrow timeframe. The timeframe was tight because of a four letter word all Scots know really well.
Rain.
We had a twenty minute burst of sunshine just at the right moment.

The Bloody Scotland Express was almost ready to go.

I got chatting to her 'driver'. He had that train thing of a permanent cloth in his hand, polishing bits that didn't need polished. More like a concerned owner laying a hand on a slightly alarmed horse.

The train was a Massey Ferguson tractor, forty years old. She's called Lenora, but as she's now owned by the council,  school children are getting a chance to rename her. Not keen on her being renamed Kardashian or Taylor or Boris or Brexit or Fortnite, he said that the train would always be Leonora to him. 

Bob McDevitt, in the pink, trying to get us all on the train.  Mason Cross on the front, Chris Brookmyre hanging on by one arm.

Behind Mason is 50% of Ambrose Parry, then me all on the bonnet, the other 50% of Ambrose Parry is still hanging on by an arm.

Anna Smith, Craig Robertson, Gordon Brown and Linn Anderson are all not doing what they are told.

There's a lot of famous faces on the train now. You can just make out Val in the driver's cab, wearing my Casey Jones hat. With Alex Grey tucked in behind her.

The train, Leonora, and her carriages will be employed during the 'summer' to take tourists up the hill to the castle. Yes, up THAT hill!

Neil Broadfoot had joined in  by now.

Anna and I were doing own best, 'smile while holding a flag' acting.

Bob is trying to get us all to look remotely in the direction of the camera. We were to stop having a carry on and hold on  instead.
We kept carrying on.

Somebody had said something very clever and witty.

No idea who it was....

Wisnae me. my rear end was numb by this time.

Order restored.

You can tell the sun is out, you can see it glinting off Craig's head!

Four Ladies Of Crime Fiction, oh Five, just noticed Val sticking her head out. 

Casey Jones

Caro at the throttle of the Canonball Express.

Fame didn't last long.

I was demised.

The two who brought  about my downfall.

But I got my hat back. Happy publication day to me, on the 6th of June.

Caro Ramsay 07 06 2019