Acclaimed Novelist Amongst Crime Writers Attending Dinner Celebrating The Science of Crime Fighting

The UK’s number one best selling crime author Ian Rankin will meet with some real-life forensic experts attending a conference in Edinburgh in October, it was announced today (Tuesday 9th October).

The ‘Murder, Mystery and Microscopes Evening’ will see Inspector Rebus creator Rankin – along with a number of other top-selling crime authors – dine with over 100 conference delegates from across the world at the October 31 event, organised by Aberdeen’s The Macaulay Institute, as part of the second Soils Forensics International conference.

The Institute’s Professor David Miller, who co-organised the event said: “‘The “Murder, Mystery and Microscopes’ dinner is a welcome addition to the programme, and it is a great honour to announce the attendance of globally acclaimed author Ian Rankin at this event.

“The dinner will provide a unique opportunity for a host of eminent crime writers to gain insights from some of the world’s most renowned forensic experts and criminal investigators, in the hope that it will provoke some intriguing discussions, forge lasting contacts and even possibly spawn a dramatic, blockbusting storyline!”

The event follows hot on the heels of the publication of ‘Exit Music’, Rankin’s 20th – and final – Inspector Rebus novel, which went straight in at number one on the books charts after its release in September.

Also in attendance will be many other celebrated crime authors from throughout the UK. Already confirmed to attend are Lin Anderson, Ann Cleeves, Alex Gray, Alanna Knight, Ken McCoy, Margaret Murphy, Barbara Nadel, Sheila Quigley, Zoe Strachan and Louise Welsh. The organisers welcome enquiries from other authors and investigators to attend the dinner.

The Soils Forensics International conference will take place in Edinburgh from 30th October to 1st November, and will showcase an array of world renowned speakers from the field of forensics, highlighting the importance of groundbreaking research and discoveries and their relevance within areas as diverse as international terrorism and environmental health.

Bringing together key international researchers, police forensic services and consultants to explore the themes of criminal and environmental forensics, keynote speakers to the event include Ms Jo Ashworth, Head of Physical Evidence, National Policing Improvement Agency, Dr Rob Fitzpatrick, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO Land and Water Australia, and Patricia Wiltshire of the University of Aberdeen, UK (who featured in Channel 5’s recent series ‘The Body Farm’).

Professor Miller comments: “Now in its second meeting, the International Conference on Environmental and Criminal Soil Forensics will see an array of acclaimed experts from the field of forensics take to the stage over the three day event. Focusing on the cutting edge advances being made in the area of soil forensics, research within this field is proving hugely beneficial to both environmental protection and criminal investigations.”

More information on the event can be obtained from Jane Lund (j.lund@macaulay.ac.uk) at the Macaulay Institute or from www.soilforensicsinternational.org

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk

Ends

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Notes to Editors

Media wishing to register for the conference can do so by visiting www.soilforensicsinternational.org/media.php

The Soils Forensics International conference is sponsored by

• The Australian Federal Police
• John Wiley Publishers
• Springer
• Taylor & Francis Publishers
• Viridian Publishing
• The Geological Society Bicentenary
• Stretton Scientific
• British Geological Survey
• Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science
• The BSSS
• Geoffrey (Tailor) Kiltmakers