Talking Location With Author Owen Mullen – Scotland

23rd May 2017

#TalkingLocationWith.... author Owen Mullen, who treats his readers to some ace Scottish settings in his crime thrillers.

The Charlie Cameron PI series is set mainly in Glasgow, although Charlie manages to get around other parts of the country. Of course, he spends a great deal of time in New York Blue [NYB], one of the few fictional locations in the books, but generally goes where I push him, and many of the places he finds himself in are favourites of mine. I like my food and so does he.

Readers don’t know this yet but Charlie likes to cook, so ingredients are important to him. In Glasgow, he shops at Roots and Fruits on Great Western Road, for organic vegetables and quality chocolate, and goes to I J Mellis [just across the road] for artisan and farmhouse cheese. The shop has its own maturing cellar. Ask them nicely and they’ll let you take a peek. During Old Friends and New Enemies, Charlie and his girlfriend, Fiona Ramsay, visit it. On the other side of the country, the Farmers Market in Edinburgh is a favourite with him and in the same book he takes Fiona there as a surprise. They have porridge for breakfast and come away with venison sausages. Well worth a visit on a Saturday morning.

Charlie is fond of Italian food and Glasgow has a fine selection of Italian restaurants. In Games People Play, he takes Kate Calder to Fratelli Sarti in Bath Street and in Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Eusebi Deli on Park Road – with yet another woman – gets the vote. [I recommend their Yesterday’s Lasagne and so does he]. Returning from Loch Lomond in Old Friends, it’s La Parmigiana at Kelvin Bridge. Yes, the Charlie boy sure likes his pasta.

I use the fabulous scenery Scotland is so famous for whenever I can. Loch Lomond is an example. When Charlie goes to Luss, where his friend Ian Selkirk had been murdered, he was in sombre mood. On another day, he might have tried the tearoom, I know I always do…great big cakes! Driving to the Isle of Skye, Charlie and Fiona pass through Glencoe and stop at the Clachaig Inn with its extensive range of malt whiskies and real ales near the site of the massacre. Eventually, they reach their destination and spend the night in The House Over-By on the seashore surrounded by the dark beauty of the volcanic island. Dinner is a romantic occasion; the former lovers, thrown together again by circumstances, eat in the world famous, Three Chimneys.

In the third book in the series, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Charlie meets Colin McMillan in the Cross Keys in Peebles and gets a potted history of the watering hole, which dates back to 1693 and was once frequented by Sir Walter Scott. McMillan tells him about Meg Dodds, the resident ghost based on a character in one of Scott’s novels. On his way back from the borders, a call from a beautiful Malawian nurse has Charlie racing to Sonny and Vito’s, close to the Eusebi Deli. This tiny coffee shop is one I always go to when I’m in Glasgow. Try their spicy Moroccan cake, and, as Charlie tells us the yesterday’s lasagne from Eusebi’s is terrific.

Sloan’s in the Argyle Arcade – another time-honoured public house- and the Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh [right down to the cutlery] are famous spots where Charlie meets people during his investigation into the disappearance of a college lecturer and a female student in Games People Play.

And with wide-boy Patrick Logue acting as his guide, the pub crawl in Old Friends takes in some of the city’s most interesting places to have a drink; Cottier’s in the West End, the Clutha and, of course, the iconic Rogano with its art deco interior.

Glasgow isn’t short of pubs and Charlie manages to get around a few, including Blackfriars in Merchants City, another champion of real ale, and Heraghty’s bar on the South Side. Both worth a visit.

For anyone visiting Scotland there are plenty of places to eat and drink. Charlie Cameron hasn’t been to all of them [yet] but give him time. And don’t be surprised to see him sitting at the next table to you. Though, if he is, watch out. The evil Sean Rafferty may not be far away. Enough to put anyone off their tandoori haggis!

Thank you so much to Owen for introducing us to so many amazing places in Glasgow and Scotland! You can follow Owen on Twitter and Instagram. And you can buy his books here! 

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For many more books set in Scotland, just click here (and drill down by location and genre… from Aberdeenshire to The Scottish Borders)

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