Tributes paid to Scottish crime writer Denzil Meyrick who has died aged 59

Denzil Meyrick, who was born in Glasgow on November 28, 1965 and brought up in Campbeltown, became one of Scotland’s biggest-selling crime writers, and spent a varied career as a police officer, a freelance journalist, and in the management of a distillery in Campbeltown.

His main series of novels are 11 books of the Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jim Daley crime thrillers, set in the fictitious town of ‘Kinloch’, which is modelled on Campbeltown. He also drew from experience during his twenties when he saw service with Strathclyde Police.

Denzil, who passed away on February 14, was ‘one of the finest Scottish crime writers of his generation’, said Scottish publisher Birlinn.

‘Denzil was known for the skill with which he pinned to the page the reality of life on the streets of Glasgow along with the issues of the small rural communities of Scotland, a talent which caught the attention of a wide reading public across the UK and well beyond,’ a spokeswoman said.

‘With his characteristic humour, unwavering determination and his dry personality Denzil was west of Scotland through and through, and he created unforgettable detective and criminal characters. He brought the DCI Daley novels to the Scottish publisher Birlinn Ltd in 2014 and published 11 books in that series alone before moving new work to Transworld.

‘Denzil – along with his characters – will always be remembered as a friend to the Birlinn team. He was a one-off. We were lucky to know him and our thoughts go out to his wife, Fiona.’