Encountering Nicola Sturgeon at the Govanhill Book Festival, Herald columnist Kevin McKenna asked if, with her memoir Frankly about to be published, she planned to write more books. “You’d be well placed to write a decent political thriller,” he suggested. I might have quibbled at the use of the word decent – why not excellent or revelatory? – but Ms Sturgeon merely asked if KM would expect to find himself in it. Astutely, he read that as a gentle threat.

It was not Ms Sturgeon who raised the subject of writing a novel, but the only time I have had a conversation with her, while she was First Minister, she talked about hoping one day to do so. Given her passionate advocacy for books and reading, it would make sense. Is it possible that, as a friend of Val McDermid, she might be considering a foray into the world of crime?

As the displays in bookshops and libraries show, crime fiction and crime-based thrillers are ubiquitous. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with reading or writing crime fiction. It should, however, be done in moderation. For purveyors of crime, their publisher’s relentless demand for a book every year or two is not just punishing but ultimately bad for the genre. Constantly working with one eye on the clock makes for poorer books and worn-out writers. Readers, meanwhile, devour an author’s latest publication in a matter of hours, barely taking time to chew or digest. After which they begin tapping their fingers for the next in the series.

Such a treadmill is a consequence of the brutal economics of publishing, which penalises novelists whose work cannot be labelled or who might only produce a new title every few years. For Ms Sturgeon’s sake, I hope she does........

© Herald Scotland