Louise Welsh recently published Death is a Welcome Guest, the second part in her Plague Times trilogy following last year’s A Lovely Way to Burn. Welsh believes good thrillers are a reflection of the times they are written in. ‘The thrillers I like best are well-observed, redolent of a particular place, fast-paced and political,’ she tells us.

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Welsh talked about the worlds she has been able to construct within her trilogy. ‘The trilogy follows the progress of a few survivors during a contemporary pandemic,’ she explains. ‘It’s a love letter to the times we live in. I walk around thinking how wonderful our flawed world is and imagining its collapse.’