The Endings Man

"Why is it," Barclay Curle grumbles to his agent Jonah, "that all the regional Edinburgh detectives have monosyllabic first names like Jack and Bob?" Then Curle publishes his newest book - about an Edinburgh detective called Doug - inciting a letter from an anonymous admirer accusing him of stealing the murders she's committed. Fact and fiction become increasingly inseparable when a dead woman is found, murdered by the method favored by the serial killer in Curle's novel. For Detective Inspector Meldrum - first name Jim - Curle seems the most obvious suspect. Faced with a second murder and a darkening cloud of suspicion, Curle decides to take action. After all, who has more experience of solving murder mysteries than a crime novelist?

About Author

Frederic Lindsay was a Scottish crime writer who was born in Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh. He was a full-time writer from 1979 and previously worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant.

Eight of Lindsay's thirteen novels are police procedurals featuring Detective Inspector Jim Meldrum, an officer with Lothian and Borders Police, as their main protagonist.

In 1987, his novel Brond was made into a three-part television series for Channel 4 directed by Michael Caton-Jones and featuring the actors Stratford Johns, John Hannah and James Cosmo.

Lindsay also wrote for radio and the stage.