Podcasts

The Penguin Podcast: James Oswald

‘You should be very careful about crossing a writer, particularly a crime writer because they will put you in a book and kill you’

20 February 2016
James Oswald and Konnie Huq

Author James Oswald and presenter Konnie Huq

James Oswald joins Konnie Huq in the Penguin studio to talk about the latest book in his Detective Inspector Tony McLean mystery series, The Damage Done.

James brings along a number of objects that helped shaped the series, including his walking boots, his notebook and a picture of his tractor as he explains how he combines writing with running a farm, and why you shouldn’t get on the wrong side of a crime writer. 

GET ON ITUNES

GET ON ACAST

GET ON AUDIOBOOM

The Damage Done

  • The Damage Done

  • No good deed goes unpunished...


    When a police raid in Edinburgh goes horribly wrong, the only silver lining for Inspector Tony McLean is a discovery that could lead to a long-lost girl from his early days on the beat.

    Haunted by the mystery of what happened to her, McLean begins to dig into a case he thought long buried.

    But the shadows of the past are soon eclipsed by crimes in the present as a series of strange and gruesome deaths shock the city.

    As McLean's investigation draws him ever deeper into the upper echelons of Edinburgh society, it will not only be his career on the line - but his life as well...


    Praise for James Oswald

    'The new Ian Rankin'
    Daily Record

    'Oswald's writing is in a class above'
    Express

    'Creepy gritty and gruesome'
    Sunday Mirror

  • Buy the book

James Oswald

James Oswald is the author of the Inspector McLean series of crime novels. The first seven, Natural Causes, The Book of Souls, The Hangman's Song, Dead Men's Bones, Prayer for the Dead, The Damage Done and Written in Bones are available as Penguin paperbacks and ebooks. He has also written an epic fantasy series, The Ballad of Sir Benfro, which is published by Penguin, as well as comic scripts and short stories. In his spare time he runs a 350-acre livestock farm in north-east Fife, where he raises pedigree Highland Cattle and New Zealand Romney sheep.

James Oswald

Read more

/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2020/november/1990-main-image-1800x1200.jpg

Recommendations

Books that defined the 1990s

Charles and Di, Blur vs. Oasis, mobile phones or dial tones... the Nineties were a cultural and technological melting pot. Here, from J. K. Rowling to Jonathan Coe, Ben Okri to Helen Fielding, are some of the authors who best captured the decade in words.
/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2020/november/One_by_One_competition_2.jpg

Competitions

Win Ruth Ware's One by One and a winter gift set
/content/dam/prh/articles/adults/2020/july/PRH-Crime-main-image-1800x1200.jpg

Recommendations

So good it's criminal: Penguin authors pick their favourite crime novels

Ruth Ware, Abir Mukherjee, Lisa Jewell and more on the crime books that shaped them – and the genre itself.

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.