Bloody Scotland Debut Shortlist and McIlvanney Long List announced.

SHORTLIST FOR THE BLOODY SCOTLAND DEBUT SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 & LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2020

Winners to be presented on Friday 18 September 2020
 

Four years ago the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in memory of William McIlvanney who is often described as the Godfather of Tartan Noir. Last year Bloody Scotland also introduced a prize for The Bloody Scotland Debut Scottish Crime Book of the Year. This year both are sponsored by the Glencairn Glass. At a time when debut writers have suffered more than anyone else due to bookshop closures the debut prize is more important than ever:

Shortlisted authors are:

Hold Your Tongue by Deborah Masson (Transworld)

The Crown Agent by Stephen O’Rourke (Sandstone),

See Them Run by Marion Todd (Canelo)
Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday)

One, Francine Toon, is also longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize which includes:
Time for the Dead by Lin Anderson (Macmillan)
Bad Memory by Lisa Gray (Thomas & Mercer)
Whirligig by Andrew James Greig (Fledgling)
A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
The Island by Ben McPherson (HarperCollins)
Bury Them Deep by James Oswald (Headline)
The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry (Canongate) aka Chris Broomyre and Marisa Haetzman
The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing by Mary Paulson-Ellis (Mantle)
The Red, Red Snow by  Caro Ramsay (Severn House)
Watch Him Die by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday)

Finalists for the McIlvanney Prize will be revealed at the beginning of September and the winner of both prizes will be revealed on Friday 18 September.

The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize will be judged by a panel including crime writer and founding director of Bloody Scotland Lin Anderson and representatives from Waterstones and the Glencairn Glass.

The McIlvanney Prize will be judged by Stuart Cosgrove, writer and broadcaster, James Crawford, chair of Publishing Scotland and presenter of BBC series Scotland from the Sky and Karen Robinson, Editor of The Times Crime Club.

The McIlvanney award recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The 2020 longlist features established crime writers and debuts, corporates and indies. Previous winners are Manda Scott with A Treachery of Spies in 2019 (who chose to share her prize with all the finalists), Liam McIlvanney with The Quaker in 2018, Denise Mina with The Long Drop in 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow in 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. The inaugural Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2019 was won by Claire Askew with All The Hidden Truths.