Dan Rhodes and Louise Welsh February 10, 2010

A slice of dark humour, with a side of mystery and an extra helping of sumptuous writing. Not for the faint of heart!

Join authors Dan Rhodes and Louise Welsh for the launch of their new books.

Dan Rhodes hears Little Hands Clapping.

A tale of mortifying heartbreak, momentous love, horrifying deaths and delicious apfelkuchen, in which a spider-eating old man and the local doctor form an unlikely alliance, fate unites a heartbroken baker and a euphonium, the most beautiful girl and boy in the village find love, and the town's least effective policeman, with a little help from a dog called Hans, exposes a crime so grotesque that it will shock the nation.

Dan Rhodes was born in 1972. His first book Anthropology was published in 2000 and soon followed by Don't Tell Me The Truth About Love, again a collection of short stories. His first novel, the critically acclaimed Timoleon Vitea Come Home earned him a spot on Granta Magazine's Best of Young British Novelists list in 2003. Little Hands Clapping is his sixth book.

Louise Welsh is Naming the Bones in her thrilling new novel.

Knee-deep in the mud of an ancient burial ground, a winter storm raging around him, and at least one person intent on his death: how did Murray Watson end up here? His quiet life in university libraries researching the lives of writers seems a world away, and yet it is because of the mysterious writer, Archie Lunan, dead for thirty years, that Murray now finds himself scrabbling in the dirt on the remote island of Lismore. Loaded with Welsh's trademark wit, insight and gothic charisma, this adventure novel weaves the lives of Murray and Archie together in a tale of literature, obsession and dark magic.

Louise Welsh is the bestselling author of The Cutting Room, The Bullet Trick and Tamburlaine Must Die. She was chosen as one of Britain's Best First Novelists of 2002 by the Guardian. Her awards include the Crime Writer's Association Creasy Dagger and the Saltire First Book Award. She lives in Glasgow.

This is a FREE event but a ticket is required. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell, Edinburgh.

For more information please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8206 or events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk.

Official Website: http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/editorial/shops/instore_events.jsp#Edinburgh