Sláinte Mhath

Lin Anderson is a Scottish author and screenwriter known for her bestselling crime series featuring forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod. Four of her novels have been longlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year, and in 2022 she was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library Award. Her first novel in the Rhona MacLeod series, Driftnet, was published in 2003 and became a Scottish bestseller. No 17, The Wild Coast, was published in August 2023. Lin is the co-founder of the international crime-writing?festival Bloody Scotland, which takes place annually in Stirling. Scotland inspired the Rhona MacLeod series of books. As a forensic scientist she attends scenes all over Scotland, from lowlands to highlands and the islands, in particular Orkney and Skye. Having lived in many parts of Scotland herself, the location of the crime is integral to each story. Place is an important character in each of her books. www.lin-anderson.com
ISNI: 0000 0000 3470 8227

Ulrike Bliefert, is a TV actress and narrator who wrote screenplays before she took up writing novels and short stories. She lives with 4 cats, 2 dogs and 1 husband in an old farmhouse in Mecklenburg, in the small city of Penzlin, where she recently created the children's book character of a little witch called "Penzline", see:
ISNI: 0000 0003 5742 8043

Frances Brody was born and lives in Yorkshire. She has historic family connections with Scotland and some of her happiest times have been spent there and on the Scottish Isles. Frances is the author of thirteen Kate Shackleton murder mysteries set in 1920s and 1930s Yorkshire. Four of these and a story are published by Bastei Lubbe: Mord nach Strich und Faden, Mord braucht keine Bühne, Mord zur Teestunde, Mord in guter Tradition and Eine Unerhörte Tat (Kurz-Krimi). She has written historical novels and a Brackerley Prison Mystery, featuring the governor of an open prison for women. Her novel Sisters on Bread Street won the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award. A Woman Unknown was short-listed for the Mary Higgins Clark award. Frances began her writing career in radio and has written for television and theatre, with productions at Manchester Library Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse and The Gate.
ISNI: 0000 0000 7491 4527

Susanne Brügmann is Nordic by nature. She was born in Hamburg/Germany and has been living in a small village in Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany) for several years. She worked in human resources for over 30 years, which sharpened her view of people and everything human. Since 2022, she has been in the fortunate position of being able to devote herself to her two passions: writing and painting. The fascinating world of books captivated her from an early age. She has been writing poems, fairy tales and short stories since her youth. Later, she added writing novels, preferably murder mysteries. Susanne loves the wild Scottish nature of the Highlands and Islands. She admires the ability of the Scots to maintain their traditions in our modern, breathless times. Hopefully, her dream of travelling through the Scottish Highlands in the Royal Scotsman will soon come true.
ISNI: 0000 0005 2909 6250

Gitta Edelmann spent several years of her life abroad, first in Brazil, later in Scotland, before settling down in Bonn, Germany. Her novels and short stories are about crime, history or fantastic worlds as well as about romance and she writes children's books, too. She loves literary journeys through time: back to the Regency era in Britain, or the middle of the 19th century in the German Grand Duchy of Baden. And, of course, she loves to return to Scotland with every case in her successful mystery series "MacTavish & Scott - The Lady Detectives of Edinburgh". Gitta enjoys travelling in Scotland - the country of her heart - to research and experience new places or revisit old favourites. Of course, she loves haggis and a wee dram! Gitta teaches Creative Writing and serves on the board of the German Writers Association/Verband deutscher Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller in North Rhine-Westphalia. She is a member of the PEN Centre Germany, the Mörderische Schwestern, Mystery People, DELIA (German Romance Authors) and Bundeskongress Kinderbuch (Authors of Children's Books)
ISNI: 0000 0000 8052 4672

Beatrix Erhard is a trained historian, journalist and copywriter. She writes in the crime, thriller, horror and historical fiction genres. Since 2015 she has published short stories in anthologies and as audio books. The author lives in Southern Germany. As a teenager, Beatrix spend the summer holidays with an English-German family in East Sussex. This first-hand experience of the British way of life left a deep impression on her. She is a great admirer of English literature, which inevitably inspires and influences her as a writer. She didn't discover Scotland until later in life, and it turned into a particularly intense love story. The research trip for Slainte Mhath took her to Aberdeenshire in December 2022. A winter fairy tale with ice, snow - and lots of rain. But during her visit to Dunnottar Castle, the setting of her story, the winter sun shone for the whole short December day. An unforgettable experience. Scotland - full of fascinating surprises.
ISNI: 0000 0000 4854 3312

Mareike Fröhlich, author, freelance editor and lecturer on book industry topics, loves variety. As a result, she feels at home in many a genre, as long as she can put ink to paper: Happiness guides, children's books and criminal short stories. In 2020, she received a scholarship from the Förderkreis der Schriftsteller:innen in Baden-Württemberg. She made her first round trip through Scotland when she was 15. During this tour she lost her heart to the country and its people.
ISNI: 0000 0005 2969 2108

Laura Gambrinus Books are her world, who has a degree in business administration, made the switch from balance sheets to novels, from numbers to words many years ago. A workshop with Fenna Williams made her discover her love of writing short stories. Preferably the kind that surprises readers and makes them think or empathise. She knows and loves to drink the whisky featured in her story, and the Isle of Arran is one of her favourite Scottish islands.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3020 0780

Alex Gray was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city. After obtaining an honours degree from the University of Strathclyde, Alex worked as a visiting officer for the department of social security in one of Glasgow's more deprived areas after which she retrained as a secondary school teacher of English till illness ended her career. She has been awarded the Scottish Association of Writers' Constable and Pitlochry trophies for her crime writing and is the co-founder of the international Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival held annually in Stirling. Alex is a lover of the countryside, especially the islands of Scotland, one of which is the setting of her story. She enjoys bird watching and gardening when she is not reading debut novels for her panel at Bloody Scotland or writing the next Lorimer novel in her best -selling series. Follow Alex on Twitter @alexincrimeland. Or see her website for more details. www.alex-gray.com
ISNI: 0000 0000 6394 590X

C.A. Hope is Scottish, raised in Lanarkshire and Edinburgh. Her childhood experience of running free in the countryside gave her a deep and lasting appreciation of the importance of nature. Her main passions in life are her sons, the natural world and writing. Now living in Perthshire, she works for Scotland's leading wildlife conservation charity, where she's based just outside the historic town of Dunkeld, the location of 'The Visit'. Although C.A. enjoys writing in many genres, her favourite is biographical historical fiction, especially the research involved to maintain the integrity of real events and characters. C.A. Hope's published works include biographical historical novels (New Lanark Trilogy, Marluc Publishing)) and the retelling of age-old folk tales in collaboration with Storyteller Lindsey Gibb (Perthshire Folk Tales, The History Press). As part of her day job, she contributes regular weekly and monthly articles to magazines and newspapers, connecting people to nature.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3023 6492

Petra K. Gungl. The Viennese PETRA K. GUNGL, penname Petra Liebkind, lives for the written word - initially as a lawyer, now as a full-time author. This includes the publication of anthologies, screenplays, and her work as a professional speaker for audiobooks. Her family is the most important source of strength for the martial arts expert author, though of course, travelling is also part of it! And where could a tea lover feel more at home than on the British Isles? Scotland is her absolute dream in terms of scenery. Maybe it's not just Antony who was born in the wrong country ... Gungl's latest novel "DIABOLISCHER ENGEL", TZ Verlag, guarantees thrilling suspense, as does her romantic comedy "KUNG FU MAMA", Petra Liebkind, PIPER-Verlag, or the short story collection "In 18 Morden um die Welt", ed. Williams/Gungl, TZ Verlag, which made it onto the shortlist for the German Skoutz Award 2022. Petra K. Gungl is a member of 'Mörderische Schwestern e.V.', 'Syndikat e.V.' and 'AIEP Austria - Verein zur Förderung der öst. Kriminalliteratur, e.V.'.
ISNI: 0000 0000 1973 9295

Margaret Kirk lives and works in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. She writes crime fiction and short stories with a gothic twist, set in the wild beauty of her beloved homeland. 'Highlanders feel a deep connection to the land, and to those who've gone before us,' she says. 'Their stories live within us and make us who we are.' Margaret's crime novels feature Scots-German detective Lukas Mahler. Her debut, Shadow Man, won the Good Housekeeping First Novel competition in 2016. A committed Europhile, she studied modern languages at Glasgow University, and her short stories have been published in translation in Germany and Switzerland. In 2023, with friend and fellow writer Vee Walker, she launched Canny Edit, a Highland-based editorial agency. Putting writers first, Canny Edit specialises in assisting authors for whom English is not their first language.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3022 1805

Thea Lehmann grew up in a village in Bavaria. An avid reader, she was writing her first story at eleven years and started to dream of a life as an author. After her studies in history, German literature, and communication science, she worked for a long time as a journalist and a self-employed PR consultant before devoting herself entirely to writing. So far, she has published eight crime novels about a Bavarian detective inspector working in Saxon Switzerland, a historical novel and some short stories. Besides writing, she loves to travel. A bike tour took her from Glasgow to the north, past Loch Ness, and Inverness to Aberdeen and back down to Edinburgh. Since this tour she knows: Scotland is beautiful but very hilly and rainy, the Scots have a robust sense of humour and Edinburgh is breathtaking. Thea Lehmann lives with her family and dog in Bavaria and is a member of the "Murderous Sisters".
ISNI: 0000 0004 4947 2367

Edda Minck, born in 1958, lives in Bochum. Her numerous interests and ambitions made her try out jobs in medical laboratories, tv and stage productions as well as gastronomy before she established herself as a successful author, writers' coach and editor. She is best known for her black comedy crime series with the heroine Maggie Abendroth (such as "totgepflegt" and "abgemurkst"), located in the Ruhr Valley. In her recent novels, Edda Minck plays with themes and motives of the "unknown world", death ("Trudy ist nicht tot, nur anders", "Die Sache mit Jo"), vampires ("Biss zum letzten Schluck"), and phenomena between heaven and earth, which science is not able to explain (yet). Although she has been to Scotland only once, the country and its people have left a lasting impression on her. Above all, she loves the sound of Gaelic, even though she does not understand a word of it -and, yes, even the weather, haggis, and bagpipe music!
ISNI: 0000 0000 1914 2843

Kate Morvern Reid lives on the North Coast of Scotland with her little boy Alexander and Ziggy Stardust the cat. She tries to write every day, but it is virtually impossible unless she gets up at 5am. Her first collection of poetry 'Balnakeil' charts a tumultuous psychological journey aboard her very own mental health rollercoaster, on which she continues to ride on a daily basis. In her teens Kate was a student and a musician, in her twenties a singer, a performer and a traveller, in her thirties a teacher of French and German and music, and now, in her forties a mother, a writer and a radio presenter. She likes to keep life interesting. Kate has co-written and recorded 4 albums of folk/alternative pop with the Scottish band The Midden, a solo EP and more recently 5 solo A-side / B-side singles, one of which, 'Caroline', reached #8 in the UK singer/songwriter chart.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3021 6627

Brigitte Pons llives in Hesse and was born a bookworm who wanted nothing else than to write books herself. Along the way, she constantly expanded her horizons - as a counter worker, temporary cook, doing a tandem jump or crossing the Alps on foot. She is a member of the "Mörderische Schwestern" (Murderous Sisters) association, writes crime novels such as the Frank Liebknecht series, short stories, romance novels and experimental fiction. Her crime novels set in Italy have a nostalgic touch and are published under the name Margherita Giovanni. As Isabella Esteban she writes mysteries that have Barcelona as a backdrop. All her identities are united by the desire to entertain her readers while searching for the unexpected beneath the surface. There are many stories written about the river Tay. This one was inspired by her family, the German author Theodor Fontane who visited the area in the late eighteen-hundreds, and the band Glory Hammer. As for Scotland in general, Brigitte feels a close bond with her character Jan, because like him, she still knows far too little about the country and its people. She says: "Emotions are the fertiliser of my imagination and words are its fruit."
ISNI: 0000 0005 0039 2750

Meike Schwagmann, lives in Hesse/Germany with her family and works as a freelance author. She has published historical crime novels and mysteries set in garden allotments. She also writes under the penname Meta Friedrich. Meike is involved in several literary associations such as Mörderische Schwestern e.V.. In 2015, she was nominated for the German HOMER literature prize. She says: "When I think of Scotland I think of the magnificent nature that takes my breath away, mile after mile. And of the wonderful people who welcomed me so heartily wherever I stopped."
ISNI: 0000 0003 7941 9682

Caryn Solomon is South African, but has lived in London for almost thirty years. She feels a strong connection to Scotland, with its wide open spaces, ever-changing light, and untamed landscapes, stemming from her passion for the wild African bush, which is why she refers to Scotland as her 'Africa of the North'. A social psychologist, psychotherapist, lecturer, professional singer and actress, Caryn has been telling or listening to stories in one form or another for over forty years. Drawing on her early experiences with music and theatre, she has developed unique approaches to team and leadership development for organisations and universities around the world using storytelling, psychodrama, and other experiential learning processes. What she has learned along the way is the power of narrative - the transformative impact of stories - which she enjoys clothing in fictional as much as narrative non-fictional texts. Her story in "Slainte Mhath" is a symbiosis of both.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3021 0444

Marsali Taylor grew up in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, a classic Scottish market town. She spent magical childhood summers in the Scottish west Highlands, in a little cottage three miles by boat from the end of the road, surrounded by beautiful hills. Her father was a keen naturalist, so she learned about Scottish wildlife as well as small boat handling. She learned to sail in her 'gap' year. Marsali studied English at Dundee University, then moved to Shetland to teach there - English, French and Drama. Now she has eleven books in her contemporary 'Shetland Mysteries' series featuring solo-sailor Cass Lynch and her partner DI Gavin Macrae. The stories are classic puzzle crime with a touch of cosy and feature the unique landscape and culture of Shetland. She has also written historical books: a Norse crime novel and a history of women's suffrage. Marsali Taylor edited the WWI diaries of a woman ambulance driver on the Russian Front.
ISNI: 0000 0005 1550 5922

Alison M. Templeton a new writer in the South of England, is deeply attached to Scotland, her forebears hailing from Kilmarnock area, Ayrshire and Paisley, Renfrewshire. Numerous childhood holidays were with close relatives in Perthshire and since she has explored many parts of the Borders, Highlands, and islands. From a long line of agriculturalists, she graduated in Rural Environment Studies, working in countryside management for the first half of her career and then in community and partnership spheres. She is constantly amazed by the intricacies of ecosystems, and our own relationships with our heritage, landscape, and wildlife. An active environmentalist, her dream is that her readers will fall in love with the natural world as she has. Here in Ancient and Onward she honours Plantlife and Glen Tanar Ranger Service for their profound love and commitment.
ISNI: 0000 0005 3018 5656

Fenna Williams lives and works as a freelance author and Creative writing coach as well as a tour guide wherever she likes. Scotland is at the top of her list of places to enjoy because it's where she can cultivate her four passions: writing, Shakespeare, single malt whisky and the desire to combine these things time and again. Fenna studied literature and linguistics at the Free University Berlin, and later creative fiction and non-fiction writing in Seattle and Cambridge. Since then, she has devoted herself to coaching colleagues of all genres and writing screenplays, short stories, crime novels and travel essays. Under the penname Auerbach & Auerbach, she writes the well-known crime series about house sitter and translator Pippa Bolle, who is at home all over Europe but particularly enjoys spending time in the UK - just like her creator. Fenna loves islands of all latitudes and longitudes on which and about which she writes. She not only finds inspiration for her stories and novels on Kintyre or tiny Scottish isles, but also loves to recharge her batteries there for a life outside paradise.
ISNI: 0000 0004 2421 2243