SCOTTISH CRIME AUTHOR

About Rachel Bremner

Rachel Bremner writes contemporary Scottish crime fiction rooted in myth, landscape and the question that never leaves her alone: what drives ordinary people to do terrible things?

Rachel grew up making summer pilgrimages to Aberdeenshire to visit her grandparents – a coastline of ruined castles, cliff paths and sea haar that worked its way permanently into her imagination. Years later, that landscape became the setting for The Crimson Keep, her debut novel and the first in a series featuring DCI Surinder Taws.

The series is set in Stonehaven, a real harbour town on the north-east coast, and draws on the genuine folklore and history of the region – because in Rachel’s books, the old stories are never only stories.

Rachel lives in Scotland with her three children and three cats. Rachel Bremner is the pen name of Emma Dhesi.

What draws me to crime fiction

I’ve loved crime novels for as long as I can remember. There’s something deeply satisfying about the structure of a mystery – the gathering of clues, the false turns, the moment everything clicks into place. It’s the most honest version of how the brain actually works.

But what really draws me in is the why. Not just how a crime was committed, but what made it possible. Every person who does something terrible was once an ordinary person who didn’t. Something changed. Something broke, or bent, or was pushed past its limit. I find that endlessly interesting – and a little terrifying – to explore.

The Aberdeenshire coast felt like the right setting from the start. It’s somewhere I’ve carried in my imagination since childhood – the cliffs, the haar, the old stones, the way history is so physically present you can almost feel it underfoot. It seemed like a place where ancient things and modern crimes could plausibly meet.

I hope Sindy’s world feels as real to you as it does to me.