A bestselling Ayr crime writer is enjoying a new lease of life as an acclaimed artist after killing off his popular protagonist.
Tony Black, who penned the Gus Dury series of mystery novels, said the writing was on the wall for his international crime novels as soon as he started to paint.
The writer, who collected eight CWA (Crime Writers Association) Dagger nominations for his novels starring the booze-soaked private investigator, has now turned to a new type of creative work.
“Art was always my first love,” said Tony, 50, “but I never dreamed I’d be able to make a living at it and that’s why I started writing.”
After landing a six-book deal with the then biggest publisher in the world, Random House, in 2007, Tony soon saw his work hit the bestsellers lists.
“I was top ten in Germany, which is the biggest book market in Europe, and my publisher there, Zsolnay, were sending over journalists and film-makers to interview me about Gus all the time, but I was really struggling to find nice things to say about him.
“Gus was a violent alcoholic, whose love-life was a shambles, and he was really hard company to keep at times.”
Tony, who grew up in Alloway, says he turned to painting to avoid burnout.
“I’d lock myself in the garage and paint, I’d always painted but at some point the balance tipped.
“People started to come round to look in my garage at all the paintings on the walls and I got the shock of my life when they started to offer me money for them.
“At a book reading one night an artist’s agent offered to represent me, then folk from galleries started knocking on my door, wanting a peek in the garage … I was soon in galleries all over the country, and incredibly in London, I even had a publishing deal for my limited-edition prints.
“This all occurred overnight, with little or no real effort on my part, which blew my mind because as a writer it took me ten years to be an overnight success.”
Tony has put further distance between himself and his Edinburgh protagonist lately, moving back to Ayrshire to paint full-time. He has no plans to resurrect Gus Dury.
“At the moment, Gus is a body in the library to me, but every now and again I get some interest in exhuming him for another book, or a film or TV show, so I never say never.”
Tony's online gallery showcases his artwork at www.tonyblackarts.com where a 20 per cent discount is currently on offer.
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