Back in 2019, Scottish author GR Halliday entered the world of crime fiction with his debut novel, From the Shadows. Now, it’s 2026, a lucky seven years later, and copies are flying off the shelves. ITV has turned that first DI Monica Kennedy novel into a six-part television series and it’s as moody and gripping as some of the best Nordic noir shows we’ve seen in the last 10 years or so – but has the rugged Scottish Highlands rather than frozen fjords as a backdrop.
With his first novel republished, and the second and third books in the series on the way (Dark Waters in Sept and Under the Marsh in January 2027), here at Crime Fiction Lover we decided to have a chat with Gareth about From the Shadows, the inspiration behind it and how the story has made it to the small screen.
Growing up in Stirling, he later moved to the Highlands and knows the setting well. And, with his father the author of books about the paranormal and unexplained mysteries, dark themes were circling in his mind from an early age. Combining the wilderness backdrop with a detective who catches monsters, he came up with his first novel, so let’s meet GR Halliday and hear more about it…
What are crime fiction lovers going to love about From the Shadows?
The main comment I hear from readers is that they love the dark world of DI Monica Kennedy’s Scottish Highlands, the characters and the sense of adventure in the books. They’re also quite scary! I’ve spoken to a few readers who have had nightmares or stopped visiting certain locations in the Highlands featured in the books…
Who is Monica Kennedy, what inspired her character and how have you developed her?
DI Monica Kennedy is a single mum and brilliant detective who has returned to the Highlands after a sparkling police career in London to get her mum Angela’s support in raising her young daughter Lucy. Monica’s been described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Saga from The Bridge, which I rather liked. I never set out to write a novel with a female detectiveas the protagonist but Monica just emerged and took over. On reflection I used to dream about a character a bit like Monica when I was a child, so maybe she’d always been with me waiting for her chance to get out!
What is she up against in From the Shadows?
She’s up against a serial killer who is targeting adolescent boys, she’s also faced with complexities from her past and the challenge of being the mother she wants to be to Lucy, while maintaining the iron core that allows her to face monsters!
ITV has adapted the book for television in the form of The Dark, and it’s just started airing as we conduct this interview. How does it feel to see your work brought to life on TV and how much input have you had on the series?
It’s amazing! I was inspired by TV and films in writing the novel, especially classic American things like Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, and Scandi-noir, like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Killing, so I think the book has quite a visual quality. I met the producers and screenwriter early on and could tell they really got Monica and the story. It’s been humbling to see so many people with so much talent dedicatingtheir time and energy to bringing my characters to the screen.
Your work has been praised for its texture and atmosphere and these qualities are abundant in the show. Is the atmosphere the same between the book and the show, and what will readers be able to enjoy in the book that they might not get on TV?
The team have done an amazing job in translating the atmosphere to the screen. I was genuinely surprised how close it feels in that regard. As an author you have the advantage of going into a character’s head and spending time describing the world around, so if you enjoy the TV show the book gives you the opportunity to delve deeper and spend more time in the DI Monica Kennedy world.
You’re trained in psychotherapy. What does that background lend your storytelling, and particularly your characterisation?
That’s correct, I still do some work in therapy, especially with addiction. I think a big part of therapy can be creating a coherent ‘story for life’ understanding how we got to where we are with our decisions, family background, et cetera, and whether we want to keep or change this narrative. In this novel one of the main characters, Michael Bach, a social worker, is wrestling with the death of his father, trying to understand why he is able to focus so completely on helping young men in his job, while failing to apply the same care in his personal relationships and hence finds himself alone.
The next novel in the series, Dark Waters, arrives in September. Where will that take Monica and do you think it might become the basis for a second season of The Dark?
Most readers seem to agree this is the scariest of my Monica books so far. A young woman crashes her car in a remote Highland glen and wakes to find she’s being held prisoner by a mysterious stranger. Meanwhile, Monica is called to investigate the discovery of a dismembered body floating in a river… I think it would make an excellent season of The Dark!
What are some of the bigger themes you wanted to explore in From the Shadows and how are they similar to or different from other Scottish crime fiction writing?
It’s hard to comment on Scottish crime fiction in general because it’s such a big and vibrant field with so many amazing authors and different approaches. I would say that personally a lot of my influence for this novel came from Scandi-noir, just because my partner Sarah was reading a lot of this at the time of writing so I got sucked in too and loved it! So it’s possible this has given my work a slightly different flavour? In terms of themes, my main motivation was just to do a really dark and exciting novel that was genuinely scary. I think unconsciously that led me to exploring issues around male identity and how men find meaning in an individualistic and sometimes violent society.
Which books and/or authors have influenced you most and why? Plus what are you reading right now?
My main crime influences are the Scandinavian authors I’ve mentioned, especially Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson. Also Thomas Harris and Silence of the Lambs, that had just come out when I was a child in the 1980s and I remember the buzz about it and loving the film. I’ve also been heavily influenced by true crime, a standout here is Happy Like Murderers by Gordon Burn about Fred and Rose West. It’s brilliantly written and strips away any dark glamour from their shocking crimes.
I’m always reading about ten books at once, at the moment top of the list is Female Life On Planet Earth by Laleh Khadivi which I’m enjoying a lot.
What’s next for GR Halliday, and what will be next for Monica Kennedy?
I’ve pretty much finished Monica book four, she’ll be back soon for that and I’m just about to get started on the fifth one!
My debut horror novel The Silence is coming out in America in 2027, publishing as Henderson Graves, my horror writing alter ego! It’s my first novel to be published in the US so I’m really excited about it, and it’s being optioned for TV.
Read our review of From the Shadows here, and watch GR Halliday reading from From the Shadows here. You can grab a copy with the buttons below.