He was active in a number of literary organisations including the Society of Authors, International PEN (a worldwide writers' association promoting freedom of expression) and the Scottish Arts Council.
The Meldrum books are classic police procedurals, dark in tone, which sometimes exploit the convention of having the identity of the perpetrator known to the reader before it becomes clear to the detectives.
These are all characteristics that make the Meldrum novels comparable to the highly regarded Italian-based Aurelio Zen series by fellow crime writer Michael Dibdin.
In a 2002 article for the Association for Scottish Literary Studies Lindsay described his work on the Meldrum books as a challenge in developing a complex, rounded and psychologically interesting character within the form and conventions of the detective genre.
They have themes including coming of age and sexual discovery (My Life as a Man), the death of a sibling (Jill Rips) and psychosis (After the Stranger Came).