When down-at-heel Glasgow conjurer William Wilson gets booked for a string of cabaret gigs in Berlin, he's hoping his luck's on the turn. There were certain spectators from his last show who he'd rather forget. Like the one who's now a corpse. Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground Wilson can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him and, as he gets sucked into certain lucrative after-hours work, the line between what's an act and what's real starts to blur.
Author
After studying history at Glasgow University, Louise Welsh established a second-hand bookshop, where she worked for many years. Her first novel, The Cutting Room, won several awards, including the 2002 Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and was jointly awarded the 2002 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award. Louise was granted a Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award in 2003, a Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award in 2004, and a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2005. She is a regular radio broadcaster, has published many short stories, and has contributed articles and reviews to most of the British broadsheets. She has also written for the stage. The Guardian chose her as a 'woman to watch' in 2003. Her second book, Tamburlaine Must Die, a novelette written around the final three days of the poet Christopher Marlowe's life, was published in 2004. Her third novel, The Bullet Trick (2006), is a present-day murder mystery set in Berlin. The Cutting Room 2002 Tamburlaine Must Die 2004 The Bullet Trick 2006 Naming The Bones 2010 Prizes and awards 2002 Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger The Cutting Room 2002 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award (joint winner) The Cutting Room 2003 BBC Underground Award (writer category) The Cutting Room 2003 Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award 2004 Corine Internationaler Buchpreis: Rolf Heyne Debutpreis (Germany) The Cutting Room 2004 Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award 2004 Stonewall Book Award (US) (honor in literature)
