Wednesday 20 June 2018

LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE FOR SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

"Forty-one years ago, William McIlvanney rocked the British literary world with Laidlaw, a gritty and socially conscious crime novel that brought Glasgow to life more vividly than anything before. This year's longlistees for the McIlvanney Prize demonstrate how modern Scottish crime writing has flourished from those seeds. From debutants to authors with more than 20 books, spy thrillers to long-running detective series, nineteenth-century mysteries to futuristic space station noir, there's an amazing range of talent on show."
Craig Sisterson – Chair of the Judges 2018
 
‘I went to Bloody Scotland and I was just knocked out... this event was so friendly, so supportive I was honestly overwhelmed’
William McIlvanney – speaking on BBC Scotland, 2012
 
Two years ago the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in memory of William McIlvanney who established the tradition of Scottish detective fiction. This year his son, Liam McIlvanney, has made the longlist for the 2018 McIlvanney Prize.

The complete longlist, revealed today, has been chosen by an independent panel of readers:
Follow the Dead by Lin Anderson (Macmillan),
Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
Presumed Dead  by Mason Cross (Orion)
The Man Between by Charles Cumming (Harper Collins)
The Loch of the Dead by Oscar De Muriel (Michael Joseph),
Perfect Death by Helen Fields (Harper Collins)
Now She’s Gone by Alison James (Bookouture)
The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney (Harper Collins)
No Time to Cry by James Oswald (Headline)
The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay (Severn House)
The Hunter by Andrew Reid (Headline)
The Photographer by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)

It features an intriguing mix of previous winners, established crime writing luminaries, some emerging talent and a debut.  The award recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.

The judges for the next round will be chaired by Craig Sisterson and include comedian and crime fiction fan, Susan Calman who like Craig is joining the panel for a second year and crime reviewer, Alison Flood.

The finalists will be revealed at the beginning of September and the winner kept under wraps until the ceremony itself which this year will take place at the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling and followed by a torchlight procession – led by the winner accompanied by Denise Mina and Val McDermid – to their first event at the Albert Halls.

Both the opening ceremony and the torchlight procession are open to the public but tickets are selling fast and capacity is less than at the castle last year so people are urged to book them now.

Previous winners are Denise Mina with The Long Drop 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012.
 
For further information or to request press tickets please contact fiona@brownleedonald.com 07767 431 846
@brownlee_donald @bloodyscotland

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