Lies of the Land

This. Has. Got. To. Stop.

Procurator fiscal Maddy Shannon wakes up in her West End Glasgow flat to a hangover and several mysteries, starting with who is the strange man in her bed? After solving the first mystery, Maddy discovers that the man’s boss, a successful defence lawyer, has met a gruesome end in his posh Merchant City office.

With a bad reputation for getting too close to her cases, Maddy tries to stand back from this one. But as the murders continue and Maddy herself receives a disturbing message, she winds up in a race against the measured malevolence of an unknown killer.

Maddy’s unorthodox meetings with Detective Inspector Alan Coulter further complicate an increasingly bloody case whose roots may go years back to one Maddy failed to win.

Chris Dolan’s follow-up to Potter’s Field is at once frightening and funny, earthy and thoughtful. It’s a love poem to Glasgow, a technicolour rendering of a city whose beauty lies in its contradictions.

Lies Of The Land is utterly engrossing. Maddy is engagingly sexy and beautifully flawed.

Had me hooked right until the end. …  A humdinger of a story with Glasgow as it’s heart.

David Hayman

Praise for Potter’s Field:

“Chris Dolan knows about crime … and his first crime novel, Potter’s Field, is very good indeed.” – Ian Rankin

“Chris Dolan has turned his considerable talents to crime. The result is a wickedly good, page-turning classic cut through with literary bite.” – Louise Welsh

“Following the tradition of McIlvanney, Dolan draws a hypnotic image of Glasgow as a city haunted by violence, beauty and the weight of its own history. A gorgeous new voice in Tartan Noir.” – Denise Mina

“Dolan hits the ground running, a lyrical and literate writer turning blunt and hard-boiled when the occasion demands, and setting up a momentum that carries this thriller through to its final act. … Strong on both character and atmosphere, Potter’s Field casts an intelligent eye over a murky, labyrinthine world whose paths are strewn with red herrings. While it fits comfortably alongside tartan noir, Dolan’s concerns and approach make it distinctively his own.” – The Herald

Chris Dolan

Before writing full time, Chris worked was Assistant Director of Network Scotland, Scottish Director of Community Service Volunteers, and an International Consultant for UNESCO.

Chris’s stage plays have been produced throughout Scotland, and in London, Milan, Spain and the USA, and have won awards including a Fringe First (Sabina). He wrote the only stage adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader (Edinburgh Festival, 2000), the libretto for the musical The Kist (Edinburgh Festival 2012), and The Pitiless Storm for David Hayman (Edinburgh Festival and tour, 2014). He translates drama from Spanish.

His 2nd play for Hayman, Resurrection: Glasgow, toured in early 2017.

His 4th novel, Aliyyah is a “modern Arabian Nights tale”, examining the faultline between atheists and theists. His 3rd, Potter’s Field, the first in the Maddy Shannon mystery series, received critical acclaim when it came out in Autumn 2014. Clerkenwall Films are buying the film and television rights. Lies of the Land – the 2nd in the Maddy Shannon series – is just out.

The 2nd edition of Redlegs (Vagabond Voices 2012) was published in French (Metaillie) in 2016.

His first novel, Ascension Day, won the McKitterick Prize.

His short stories have been published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. His first collection, Poor Angels, was shortlisted for the Saltire Award and a story from it won the Scotland on Sunday prize.
He writes non-fiction, including John Lennon: The Original Beatle, and a biography of Scottish Anarchist Ethel Macdonald. His next novel, Aliyyah, is due out May 2015.

Chris has written over 70 hours of television, including Taggart, River City and Machair. He has written drama-documentaries, including An Anarchist’s Story (BBC 2007). He has also written and presented TV docs including Barbado-ed (BBC/Tg4; nominated for the Prix Europa), Don Roberto (BBC), and The Scots Who Fought Franco (STV).
Films include The Ring (BBC), Poor Angels, and the Imax production, Mistgate.

He has written over 20 radio plays, including 2014’s The Strange Case of Dr. Hyde (Radio Scotland) and The House of Mercy (Radio 4); 5 Rebus adaptations to date (Fleshmarket Close will be broadcast later this year), and for Radio 4’s From Fact To Fiction.

He is a regular radio and television presenter, and has written and presented over 20 hours of radio documentaries for Radios Three, Four, and Scotland. He has written audio-visual pieces for, among others, Glasgow’s Transport Museum.

Chris has taught Creative Writing for many years. Currently lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, he was Writing Fellow, University of Strathclyde, 2011 -2012. He founded and taught at the Taller de Escritura, Pamplona, for professional writers between 2000 and 2012. He delivered masterclasses for Opening Shot and Movie Makars. He ran Creative Thinking courses for BBC London; is a regular tutor at the Arvon Foundation, and has worked with writers in Brazil, Iceland, Ireland, and Italy.

He works with Creative Scotland (arts consultancy group), the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Centro Espagnol Lorca, Robert Louis Stevenson Award, Glasgow’s Aye Write, and with the NAWE Television Writing Conference.