Criminal idea spelled success

Do you wish your PhD thesis had a wider audience? With a little tweaking it might. A former Strathclyde University postgraduate has just revealed in the university magazine that she became despondent at the thought of nobody reading her PhD in forensic psychiatry, which explored mental illness being ascribed to female offenders. She admits "misusing"

her grant by turning to fiction, writing about a female character with a history of mental illness who, contrary to medical expectations, is capable of rational thought. Step forward Denise Mina, a queen of "tartan noir"

crime fiction, winner of the John Creasey Memorial Dagger and shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.