It is dark and raining under a lowering sky. Darker than it should be even for this time of the year. Had the setting been specially arranged for Dark Nights, Dark Deeds; Death in Grantown, the town’s seventh Wee Crime Festival?

Arriving in Grantown–on–Spey, a fine planned town in the Highlands, helps a little to dispel the sense of irrational foreboding that has begun to build. And on arrival at the venue for the Festival – the Pagoda – all misgivings disappeared completely.

The Pagoda is a bright, oddly shaped building with a warm welcome inside. At the head of the welcome is Marjory, the creator of the Wee Crime Festival, and the owner of The Bookmark, a small independent bookshop on Grantown’s High Street. And if you are looking for something to read, this is definitely the place to find it – books stacked high, an eclectic selection. She is busy greeting, introducing people and having a chat with everyone, as well as checking that everything is in place to run smoothly.

There are a number of rooms and the one set aside for the festival is modern, well lit, painted white, with windows either end. The audience are arranged in a rough arc, facing a small raised area that seats the guest authors. The guests for the first session of the day are chatting among themselves, perhaps a little apprehensively, but the key to the success of the Wee Crime Festival is the informal atmosphere that pervades the proceedings. Once underway, the authors relax as they talk about their lives, motivation, inspiration and craft, and as we join in the session, so we too relax, learn and enjoy.

Marjory, now in the 7th year of running the Wee Crime Festival, is an energetic, friendly, knowledgeable lady and in her design of the Festival has deliberately aimed at keeping numbers low, wanting to promote an informal, accessible and friendly atmosphere in the proceedings. Authors and visitors alike enjoy this relationship not only at the individual sessions, but also at break times and the special dinners that are part of the three-day festival. Where else in a busy life can you find this?

The authors, a prominent selection of Scotland’s crime fiction writers, included Margaret Kirk, Hania Alleny, Denzil Mayrick, Douglas Skelton, Gillian Galbraith, Theresa Talbot and Michael Malone. With no trepidation, I am already looking forward to the Wee Crime Festival 2020.