Douglas Lindsay Books In Order

Publication Order of Barney Thomson Books

Publication Order of Barney Thomson Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of DCI Jericho Books

Publication Order of Detective Thomas Hutton Books

Publication Order of DI Ben Westphall Books

Publication Order of DI Buchan Books

Publication Order of DI Pereira & DS Bain Books

Publication Order of Sam Vikstrom Books

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Douglas Lindsay is an internationally well known Scottish author, who is famous for writing crime fiction novels. He is particularly popular for developing the Barney Thomson series and creating its lead character. Author Douglas was born in the year 1964 in Lanarkshire, Scotland. A few decades later, he moved to Belgium to live there. It was here that he met his future wife named Kathryn. Douglas joined Kathryn on a posting in Dakar, Senegal for Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was at this place that Douglas thought of and developed Barney Thomson’s character. The idea about this well known character came to his mind when he was sitting in an apartment and enjoying his gin & tonic one morning. Since the 1990s, author Douglas has produced 7 novels as parts of the Barney series, along with a few other crime fiction books in non-traditional style. The first book written by Douglas, called The Long Midnight, has been translated into many foreign languages. It was published in the United Kingdom in 2015 as a major event of motion picture. It was called The Legend of Barney Thomson, and starred Emma Thompson, Ray Winstone, and Robert Carlyle in the lead roles. Author Douglas married Kathryn a few years after meeting her. He is blessed with a couple of children with her, named Hamish and Jessica. Douglas completed his education from the Glasgow University and obtained a degree in BSc However, he considered it to be fairly useless. Following his graduation, he was employed to work for the Defense Ministry in Glasgow, and then for the UK delegation in Brussels to Nato. Immediately after this assignment, Douglas went on a unpaid special leave to Senegal with Kathryn and thus came up with the life turning character of Barney Thomson. Later, Douglas returned to the Ministry in Andover for a short duration of time and then left everything to work as a full time writer.

It was in 2000 that Douglas took such a bold step of going for a new career path. The first publication of author Douglas’ career as an author is a short story known as The Seventeenth Magazine. This short story was published in the Xenos Magazine. Douglas came third in the race for the Bridport award for his short story called The Bad Men in 1996. Also, his characters Proudfoot and Mulholland received nominations in the category of the best detective in a comic role in 2000’s Sherlock Award. In addition to writing, the other interests of author Douglas include playing and listening to the piano, playing guitar on several occasions, and listening to music. Douglas also likes to watch movies and indulge in almost all sorts of sports activities. After living in Poland for some time, author Douglas has now returned back to his home and resides in the southern region of England. The authors who have inspired him the most to take up the path of writing include R.L. Stevenson, Annie Proulx, and Ian Fleming. However, these days he does not get much time to read books as all his free time gets spent in looking after his 2 children. Author Douglas believes that the influences that he gained while living in the Scotland Highlands were more cinematic in nature than literary.

The Barney Thomson series written by Douglas Lindsay is comprised of 7 books in total, which were released between the years 2000 and 2013. Each and every novel of this series features the chief protagonist in the role of Barney Thomson, who is depicted as a barber living in Glasgow. The first book of the series is entitled ‘The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson’. This book was released by the Long Midnight publication in the year 2003. The book introduces the role of Barney Thomson and also depicts several other important characters as well. At the start of the book’s story, Barney Thomson is depicted as a diffident and an awkward barber from Glasgow. He lives a desperate and mediocre life. Barney Thomson mostly remains shunned at home and also at his work. He is not able to come out of the rut of 20 years and spends every single day of his life in extreme dullness. But, it seems that his tedious life was meant to be spiced up and become exciting as he gets involved in an inadvertent murder case. Barney’s life becomes more so happening when a deadly psychopath enters into his life. The murdered body is found packed inside a freezer and Barney’s name gets added up in the list of suspects. Due to this unexpected murder case, Barney’s uninteresting life takes a speedy turn, forcing him to enter the grotesque world of comically absurd serial killers.

The next installment penned by author Douglas in the series is called ‘The Cutting Edge of Barney Thomson’. It was released in 2000 by the Judy Piatkus publication. Author Douglas has set the story in Sutherland, Scotland, UK. The primary characters of this book include Barney Thomson, Don Masson, and Brother Jacob. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted Barney Thomson gets accused by the press of being involved in a number of criminal activities. Within a very short span of time, he becomes the most notorious, but misunderstood serial killer of Scotland. He does not seem to have any other option except running away to save his life. Barney Thomson takes shelter in St. John’s Holy Order and hides there to prevent himself from getting caught. Barney becomes Brother Jacob so that he does not get recognized and keeps track of the ones who are in search of him. He also keeps himself involved in part time barber. While staying at St John, Barney Thomson discovers that he landed at the wrong place after running for so long. The monastery that he has chosen is already filled with serial killers. Now, he does not just have the police off his trail, but also several serial killers, who do not leave even a single chance to frame the innocent barber in the crimes committed by them. Barney Thomson or Brother Jacob must somehow keep himself alive in the proximity of murderers and find proof of his innocence so as to live the rest of his life peacefully. And for that, he appears to be all set to do whatever it takes. On the whole, the book seems to be an interesting read, filled with satire, tabloid sensationalism, and humorous dialogues. Author Douglas has done a great job in coming up with the sequel novel and living up to the expectations of the readers and the critics.