TRUTH became even stranger than fiction for a top Scottish crime writer recently when he was wined and dined by the Freemasons.
While conducting research for his latest novel, former Press and Journal reporter Tony Black – who now counts Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh among his ever-growing number of fans – was given an in-depth tour of a Masonic lodge, followed by a tongue-in-cheek warning not to feature the top-secret society in his new book.
In Long Time Dead, Gus Dury – Black’s hard-drinking protagonist – is asked by a friend to investigate the ritual hanging of an Edinburgh University student. The murder victim’s mother is a high-profile actress who has promised a big-money reward to catch the killer.
Dury, desperate for the cash, goes undercover at the university to track down those responsible and runs into a secret society with a taste for the noose.
“Long Time Dead is my fourth book in the Gus Dury series and it’s the one I’ve taken the most risks with,” admits Black.
“When I was researching for it, I spoke to this bloke who was a bit of an expert on secret societies and things like the Knights Templar, and he was clearly very taken by it, but I was never going to get wrapped up in any of that stuff. I find it all a bit trainspottery to be honest.
“This guy said he had been at a meeting of some group of his – in Scotland – and, long before the Da Vinci Code was written, Dan Brown was seen in there scribbling away in his notebook. So now you know where some of the ideas came from.
“Scotland is well and truly wrapped up in all these conspiracy theories, and things like the Masons originated here so it’s no surprise. A lot of groups like the Speculative Society kept turning up in my research, and bits and pieces of those outfits started to take form in my head when I was writing about my group – the Seriatim.”
Black’s research into the murky world of Scotland’s secret societies took an unexpected turn when he was invited to dinner at a local Masonic lodge.
“It was a fairly big do and the whole lodge seemed to be out for it,” recalls the 37-year-old, who now lives in Edinburgh.
“The grand master gave me a tour of the place and told me a few very interesting stories about the craft of Masonry. I even saw the inner sanctum where they perform the inductions.”
Laughing, he adds: “I don’t know if they were trying to recruit me or what, but I didn’t sign up. The most unsettling moment of the night, though, was when I was going out the door and a hand was placed on my shoulder by the grand master and he said, ‘I hope we’re not going to be seeing the Masons in your next book’. It was on my mind to say, ‘too late’, but I just smiled and got in the car - quickly.”
Since the publication of his debut novel in 2007, the former journalist’s meteoric rise in the world of crime fiction was confirmed when one of his all-time heroes revealed that Black was his favourite Scottish crime writer.
“I’d heard through a friend of a friend that Irvine Welsh had read all my books and was a fan, but I never expected to get that kind of an endorsement from him,” says Black.
“He doesn’t give out that kind of praise often, so it was a total shock.”
Long Time Dead, the fourth Gus Dury novel by Tony Black, is being released by Random House today, priced £11.99. Loss, the third in the series, is also published in paperback today, priced £7.99. An official launch event for the book is being held at Blackwell’s bookstore in Edinburgh.