Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh launches book set in Brighton

By Vicky Castle, BBC News, South East

Getty Images Brighton Pier with the sun setting below itGetty Images

Irvine Welsh will appear at an event in Brighton to launch a new book set in the city.

The best-selling author of Trainspotting will discuss his new book, Resolution, which is the third instalment of his Crime series following detective Ray Lennox.

Welsh told BBC Radio Sussex he had written books “better than Trainspotting” and just focused on writing “the best book” he could every time.

An evening with Irvine Welsh, which was initially set to be held at St George’s Church in Kemptown, will now take place at Waterstones in North Street on Wednesday.

Author Irvine Welsh looks square into the camera

Resolution is the third book in the series, which has been adapted into a TV series starring Dougray Scott.

In the new book, former detective Ray Lennon leaves his police job behind to embark upon a new life in Brighton.

He meets Mathew Cardingworth, a rich and smooth-talking man who is seemingly a pillar of the local community.

But he soon makes a connection between the eminent local, a series of violent attacks and the disappearances of a group of foster care boys.

Ewan McGregor as Renton in Trainspotting

Welsh said he had a “big connection” with Brighton, where he had lived briefly.

He said: “I thought it would be a great place for Lennox to move to once he had left the police force in Edinburgh, that it would be a clean break for him.”

The novel looks at the “post-truth society” and is full of the “dramatic language” he likes, Walsh said.

At the event he said he would be “chatting away” about the book, the characters and his writing in general.

He said he liked the events to be “quite interactive” and “for people to ask questions about anything they want to”.

“I think people think I would be bored by questions about Trainspotting but I’m not – people can ask anything they want to basically,” he said.

Trainspotting’s legacy

In terms of reaching the same heights as his 90s hit, Irvine said: “I’ve written books that are far better than Trainspotting but I’ve not written any that will have that impact or reach.”

As an author, he said “your business is to write the best book you can every time”.