When I’m not writing about my characters, I miss them
An interview with DCI Logan author, JD Kirk

We caught up with crime writing sensation JD Kirk, before his appearance, alongside novelist Rachel Abbott, at our opening event on Friday the 13th of September, at 3pm.

You’re appearing alongside Rachel Abbott at Bloody Scotland at our opening event. What can bloody Scotland fans can expect from the event?
Generally, whenever I do any of these events, I absolutely wing it, and so I’m no way prepared. I never prepare for any of them. I think it’s better when it’s more spontaneous. I’ve met Rachel before. We were actually on a panel together just prior to me switching to crime fiction. She was talking about her crime books, and I was talking about a comedy science fiction series that I wrote called Space Team. I remember telling her at the time that I was looking at writing a crime novel, and Rachel, and author LJ Ross, who was also on the panel, were both very, very encouraging. I’ve not seen Rachel since, so it’ll be good to catch up and say, look, I did it!

You’ll be discussing your latest book, A Killer of Influence at the festival, can you tell us about the inspiration behind the book?
The book comes out on the 12th of September – just the day before my event. We have hardbacks in stock, ready to go, so someone will get the first signed copy of the novel at Bloody Scotland.

The book is about social media and how beauty spots in places like the Highlands are being taken over by social media users and influencers. Take Glenfinnan, for example. It’s a tiny little village which the Glenfinnan Viaduct runs through and has done for hundreds of years – but now it’s just the ‘Harry Potter Bridge’. Locals are being driven demented by people coming up dressed in robes so they can take pictures of themselves in front of the bridge as the Hogwarts Express goes across it. Visitors are parking in people’s driveways and destroying verges and all kinds of stuff. That sort of thing is happening more and more not just across the Highlands, but across lots of rural places. There’s this sense of entitlement that I think both the internet and Covid have given people. And that’s what first inspired the idea behind A Killer of Influence.

The book is about a group of social media influencers who are at a convention in the Highlands and go missing. Broadcasts start playing on their social media profiles showing them locked up in cages and being made to perform for their lives, basically. It’s probably the darkest book I’ve written so far, but it’s also got lots of humour in it. The humour is the kind of thing that attracts a lot of people to the series, and that’s what makes it enjoyable to write. I couldn’t just write, you know, relentlessly bleak stuff.

Where did your character DCI Jack Logan come from?
I would say he’s kind of a wish fulfilment thing. He can say things that I can’t say out of politeness. I’m too nice! I think a lot of Logan is me, but with that nice bit and my politeness dialled down and the rest of it dialled up. He’s also the same height as me which is no coincidence!

What compels you to write crime fiction?
Well, I actually started off writing children’s books. I wrote kids’ books for 10 years for Harper Collins and Penguin and various others. But for me, whatever I write has always just been about characters and people and how they interact. Under the surface, a lot of my books are just about dysfunctional sort of families or groups of people that have come together and need to find a way to get along with each other. That’s what keeps me coming back to the DCI Logan series and my spinoff books. It’s about finding new ways to get those characters together and seeing what happens. I feel like I’m almost observing when I’m writing now because I know the characters really well.

When I’m not writing about them, I find myself missing the characters. Like my readers – I want to know what the characters have been getting up to and what’s been happening between books. The actual crime bit is almost secondary to me, and I think it is to a lot of my readers as well. I don’t often get people saying, oh, I love the mystery element. People will say, oh, I’m really sad about what happened to Ben, or, I can’t believe this has happened to Tyler, or whatever. One of my main police characters is pregnant with twins at the moment and I’ve had three or four people email me to say they’ve started knitting – for fictional babies that would never exist! Readers get really invested in the characters – and that’s what I love too.

What’s the best thing about Bloody Scotland?
It is such a celebration of crime fiction. It really feels like a celebration – and not like a festival. A lot of festivals feel quite dry but Bloody Scotland – with its quiz nights and karaoke and whatever else is going on – feels like quite a joyous thing.

JD Kirk will be at the festival this year to talk about his novel, A Killer of Influence on Friday the 13th of September at 3pm