This volume presents two tales set in the granite-slated, Gothic world of Edinburgh - one involves murder; the other drugs. In Trainspotting, Alex Renton, an unrepentant drug abuser, is doing his best to escape the claims and responsibilities of Life. Harrowing yet hilarious, Trainspotting charts the disintegration of a group of friends whose obsession with drugs and mayhem leads them inexorably to self-destruction. Poles apart from the low-life of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave presents a trio of affluent characters whose feckless lives are disrupted when they discover the corpse of their new flatmate and a suitcase bulging with money under his bed. The story balances on a knife-edge between ebullience and violence, as the forces of destruction gather to claim their victims. Shallow Grave won the Alexander Korda award for Best British Film of 1994. This volume is introduced by the screenwriter, John Hodge, and also contains an interview with Irvine Welsh, the author of the cult novel on which Trainspotting is based.