Diramid in the Garrick Club visiting Winnie the Pooh

We were extremely saddened by the news that our lovely crime writer, Diarmid MacArthur had died so suddenly. The news was completely unexpected and we were heartbroken to hear it. Our sympathies go to his wife and two daughters.

Diarmid was the first author to join Sparsile who had no previous connection to Lesley or Jim. Introduced by a mutual friend, we first met in the tea room of John Lewis’s in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries.

Diarmid, a tall, slim man with a narrow, closely-clipped beard, arrived looking every bit the sinister crime writer. Then he opened his jacket to reveal a Hawaiian shirt, broke into the widest of grins and turned into the loveable teddy bear we came to know and love.

Diarmid impressed us with his writing and the way he loved setting his books in and around his beloved Lochwinnoch, but most of all he impressed us with his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of the works of A. A. Milne. Who knew that the author of Winnie the Pooh also wrote crime novels? Diarmid did. He loved Milne’s clear expressive language, and he used that as a template for the plethora of witty, memorable characters that featured in his DCI McVicar and Barloch series.

Diarmid had just finished the second Barloch book TO FEED THE FIRE, and we were all looking forward to it coming out on September the 24th. Thankfully, the author edits were complete and Stephen Cashmore, our proofer and Jim Campbell, our marketing manager will step in to ensure that the book is completed on time.

We’re very sad that there will not be a third book in the series or a new detective character coming out of Lochwinnoch. But, if there is a writer’s heaven, we’re pretty sure that Diarmid is up there with his celestial word processor, inventing a new genre of angelic crime fiction. If anyone could do it, he could. There are many things we could go on to say about Diarmid, but THE END, will never be one of them.