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On Sunday evening, I interviewed the crime writer abut his new Inspector Rebus novel, The Naming of the Dead, in front of an audience in the spiegeltent at the Belfast Festival. Ian is not only a great writer, he's a superb performer on these kinds of occasions. Needless to say, the audience loved him. We had dinner afterwards and talked about all manner of macabre matters -- including my impending visit to the City Mortuary, where I was to interview the state pathologist and watch an autopsy taking place as part of a documentary we're making. Or maybe I should say postmortem examination -- "autopsy" seems a little too American, a bit on he Quincy or Columbo side. Oddly enough, when I met the pathologist the next morning for the filming, we ending up talking about Quincy and how unrealistic his television autopsies were. For a start, Quincy always seemed very emotionally involved in the story behind a particular cadaver; in reality, a pathologist simply has to avoid that kind of psychological entanglement.

I talked with Ian about Columbo, and discovered that we're both fans. Needless to say, he had developed his analysis of the Columbo series into a socio-political reading (which made a great deal of sense). David Torrens, from No Alibis Bookstore, was with us for dinner; he can talk about Columbo for days. In fact, he recently refused to sell the large painting of Columbo that adorns one of the walls in his bookshop. He was offered a hefty sum for it; but, he says, it's now an icon of his business and he wouldn't part with it. From naming the dead to naming the price.

Must dash ... got to catch a plane to Birmingham, then head to Stratford for the RSC's Timon of Athens. Look out for that on Festival Nights next Monday.