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Chris Brookmyre discusses his storied career with Robert Blair

July 1, 2026

Three decades on from his first novel, Chris Brookmyre is bringing his beloved Paisley-born protagonist Jack Parlabane back for a new adventure. In an interview with Mill, the Barrhead author discusses his storied career, the rise of Scottish literary fiction, St Mirren and more

The world was, in many ways, a different place when a then 27-year-old Chris Brookymyre first brought Quite Ugly One Morning to the eyes of the world.

Known for his sardonic streak and vivid, often unabashedly subversive imagination, his works have captivated a generation of readers ever since the world was awoken to his colossal talents.

Thirty years after the introduction of Paisley-bred Jack Parlabane in his debut novel, the wily investigative journalist is, much like his creator, examining his own legacy like never before in the spiritual successor to that first book, Quite Ugly One Evening.

Yet for Chris, the journey they’ve both been on is one that has happened without much of a daunting fixation on the future.

“I think the thing that strikes me is, back then you don’t think ‘will I be doing this in 30 years?’ You don’t actually think about the next 30 years at all,” Chris Brookmyre reflects.

“I think if I was thinking about how I’d be regarded over the course of that period of time, I probably wouldn’t have started my first book with a jobby on a mantelpiece (laughs). You’re kind of stuck with that as a frame of reference after that.

“When it hit me that it was going to be 30 years, I thought I’d call it Quite Ugly One Evening just as a signal of how much time has passed. It was also a constant reminder to keep the tone of the book similar to the first.

“Some of the other ones delved into a more sombre territory and while this one deals with serious issues, I wanted it to be as close as possible and that it didn’t get too heavy. It was actually quite liberating. It took a wee while [to get back into that headspace].

“By the time I was writing about Parlabane, it had been eight or nine years since the last time. But, it didn’t feel like that. In a way, it helped, because I had enough distance from the character and the big chance was that I decided to write in the first person. I’d never done that with him before, so that helps you perceive everything.”

Chris Brookmyre with his wife, Marisa Haetzman © Bob McDevitt Photography

In the three decades after Parlabane first pursued an insane mystery, his profession of journalism has changed immensely.

In that time, the industry has essentially been through the wringer, losing public trust and often being proven to have sacrificed its own morals in the pursuit of a scoop.

For Chris, examining these changes, alongside broader societal shifts, has been part of the fun of picking up where he left off with Parlabane.

“When I first created him, he was basically a kind of cartoon, wish-fulfilment character as everyone wanted to believe that there was a journalist who’d go to these extreme lengths to get round the corporate barriers that get in the way of the truth.

“In the years since then, I’ve certainly made him more realistic or at least examined his motives, but I’ve always been conscious of the changing face of journalism. By the start of this book, he’s a veteran that’s still hanging in there, not a dinosaur per se, but he’s wondering how the younger reporters that are supposed to be looking up to him actually see.

“He most certainly doesn’t like what he sees when he’s looking at them, shamelessly cribbing from press releases and that. Parlabane also has a lot of lessons to learn, as he realises he’s been very arrogant and some of these younger people know what they’re doing a lot more than he does.”

In tandem with examining the changing perception of journalism, another focal point that’s ripe for satirisation in Quite Ugly One Evening was the ongoing “culture war” where people fight against so-called ‘wokeism’ to preserve their way of life.

In the new book, this rears its head through vigorous defence of a 60s puppet show, giving Chris the scope to examine the ridiculousness of it all with his usual humour and deft touch.

“I wanted to write about how the culture wars are used to make people think that their fellow citizens are their enemy, rather than someone they disagree with on this one thing.

“James O’Brien calls it the ‘footballificiation’ of politics, which is quite corrosive as it makes people think they’re winning as long as their side is, without thinking about how damaging it is.

“I wanted to think about the most absurd thing that pundits could cause this performative tantrum about, so why not a 1960s children’s puppet show?

“I wanted to satirise how information is used and abused, so I wanted to make the point how it’s used for nefarious purposes and that’s why it’s based on a family who are losing sight of what they have in common through all this.”

Described as “Succession meets Thunderbirds” by none other than Val McDermid, Chris’ latest book comes at a time when Scottish fiction is booming like never before.

When asked if he feels he contributed to this, he remains unsure whether he merely reaped the rewards of another rising tide that took place during his early years as a writer.

“I’m never quite sure if I contributed or if I was just fortunate enough to be around at the same time. Trainspotting came out a few years before my book and Ian Banks was a big name at the time, then Val and Ian Rankin started to appear.

“It seems like publishers were starting to become more open to things. I remember reading [Ian Banks’] The Wasp Factory and being blown away because it felt like something that was too weird and too Scottish to be published.

“I was then surprised by how excited my publisher was about Quite Ugly One Morning at the time. But, the more people are exposed to things like Scottish vernacular, the more accepted it becomes.”

In conjunction with the book, Chris Brookmyre is attending many promotional events and among his stops was May’s Paisley Book Festival. An event that he has taken part in through various guises, the author clearly has a lot of fond memories of this annual staple of the Renfrewshire calendar.

“It’s got a strange place in my mind because it was the last thing our band [The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers with McDermid, Doug Johnstone and more] did before the pandemic,” he recalls.

“Then, I did a zoom event, so when I came back to the launch a couple of years ago, it meant a lot to be doing it in the real world. This’ll be the closest we’ve had to the band returning as Val chaired the event with myself and Doug.

“It’s always nice to be somewhere not far from home. I’ve never actually written any scenes of Parlabane in Paisley up until now, so this is the first book that really examines his family past.”

In addition to his most famous protagonist hailing from Paisley, Chris himself has a connection to the town through his well-documented love of St Mirren F.C.

Fresh from a year of ups and downs for the team, Chris reveals that the League Cup final triumph against Celtic came at an interesting time in his life where football wasn’t necessarily a priority.

“It was a weird thing, because I’d made my peace with never seeing St Mirren beat one of the Old Firm in a cup final. To my great surprise, I’d almost entirely lost interest in football recently, so while I was at the game, I didn’t feel quite as elated as I thought I would. It’s been a strange thing,” Chris concludes, “and it’ll probably come swelling back at some point. If we’d got relegated, it would’ve been an anaesthetic against the pain!”