Background

Richard Grindal was born on February 23, 1922, in Perth, Scotland, into the family of Eric and Dorothy Grindal.

Education

Richard studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, where he received Bachelor of Arts in modern history in 1941, and then earned Master of Arts in 1946.

Career

Richard Grindal, who also writes under the pseudonym Richard Grayson, has two main interests that may seem disparate — the making of whisky and the writing of crime novels — but frequently the two come together in his works.

Grindal was an official at the Scotch Whisky Association for a number of years. When not writing murder mysteries he acted as spokesman for the Scotch whisky industry and toured extensively in the United States, appearing on television and radio in forty-three cities. He has lectured on Scotch whisky in most western European countries and Japan. His knowledge of the beverage was obvious in his 1982 novel "Death Stalk", in which an American writing a book on the Scottish island of Alsaig is framed for a murder. The island is home to a distillery, which lives Grayson ample opportunity to share facts about the drink.

The liquid plays an even larger role in his 1984 novel "The Whisky Murders." This book revolves around the disappearance of the director of a Scottish distillery. While the central character, Bruce Sanderson, is able to piece together what happened to the old man, he also discovers what the man believed to be a new process that would change the whisky industry. As Derrick Murdoch wrote in a Toronto Globe and Mail review of the book, “it’s savor lies partly in the authentic Scottish atmosphere... and still more in the fascinating information it contains about the making, maturing and marketing of Scotch.”

Scotch whisky is not the only topic on which Grindal bases his novels. He is well known for a series of books, such as "The Monterant Affair" and "The Montmartre Murders", that features French Surete Inspector Gautier. Grindal’s knowledge of the French language (he speaks Italian as well) has allowed the Londoner to detail turn-of-the-century Paris as though he were a native, according to Newgate Callender, writing in the New York Times Book Review.

The books featuring Inspector Gautier are peppered with references to well-known Parisian spots like the Opera and the Jockey Club, and depicts the heady atmosphere of the French capital. His details benefit readers, according to a review by T. J. Binyon in the Times Literary Supplement, and the outcome “is certainly educational, but none the less enjoyable.”

Achievements

• Richard Grindal is greatly famous as the author of books "The Spiral Path", "Play the Roman Fool and Die", "The Monteront Affair", and "Whisky Murders."

Works

More photos

• book

  • Flatbush Avenue

    (Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsive...)

    2013
  • University Drive

    (Richard Grayson has been keeping a daily diary compulsive...)

    2015
  • Death Off Stage

    (When the famous Judge Prudhomme and prima ballerina Nicol...)

    1992
  • I Brake for Delmore Schwartz

    (Stories deal with a boy's memories of his great-grandmoth...)

    2000
  • Death on the Cards

    (Inspector Jean-Paul Gautier is determined to find out who...)

    1988
  • Crime without Passion 1983
  • Whisky Murders 1984
  • The Montmartre Murders 1982
  • The Monterant affair 1980

Membership

• Caledonian Club

• Society of Authors

Interests

• making of whisky

• Sport & Clubs

  golf

Connections

Richard married Philippa Maria DuBoulay on May 24, 1960 and they have three common children: Christopher, Izabel, and Madalena.

Father:

Eric Grindal

Mother:

Dorothy Grindal

Spouse:

Philippa Maria DuBoulay

Son:

Christopher Grindal

Daughter:

Izabel Grindal

Daughter:

Madalena Grindal