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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. 

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The Damage Done

  • The Damage Done

    Inspector McLean

  • 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

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