Announcing our 2020 prize winners Francine Toon and Deborah Masson!
Congratulations to Deborah Masson for winning the Debut Prize with Hold Your Tongue!
The judges described Hold Your Tongue as:
‘A well written, fast paced and gritty thriller with a strong female protagonist, who will stop at nothing to find the killer.'
Congratulations to Francine Toon for winning the McIlvanney Prize with Pine!
The judges described Pine as:
‘An extraordinary novel which stood out because of the sheer quality of the writing and the dark brooding atmosphere of the remote rural Scottish village in which it is set. The book merges the supernatural with real crime in a very memorable way and brings an exciting new talent to Scottish crime writing.’
With thanks to The Glencairn Glass, the World’s Favourite Whisky Glass and the Official Glass for Whisky for sponsoring the prize this year, and to Culture & Business Fund Scotland who have generously matched the funding.
Kicking off Bloody Scotland 2020 online!
Due to incredible demand, we're able to make Bloody Scotland 2020 online available to watch for free on our website, all weekend!
Want to see Jeffery Deaver, Sue Black, Ann Cleeves, Peter May, Attica Locke, Linwood Barclay, Lawrence Block, Denise Mina, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Lee Child, S.A. Cosby, Katherine Ramsland, John Connolly and so many more in your living room? Now you can!
Just go to bloodyscotland.com/watch, sit back and relax! 
And here's the full programme at a glance:
Revealing the McIlvanney Prize 2020 shortlist!
Congratulations to Andrew James Greig, Doug Johnstone, Ambrose Parry and Francine Toon for making it to the 2020 McIlvanney Prize shortlist for Scottish Crime Book of the Year!
We'll be revealing the winner on Friday 18th September (you can view the announcement live by getting your tickets to the Friday's events here) but for now, let's learn a little more about our shortlist and what the judges had to say:
Whirligig by Andrew James Greig
Just outside a sleepy Highland town, a gamekeeper is found hanging lifeless from a tree. The local police investigate an apparent suicide, only to find he’s been snared as efficiently as the rabbit suspended beside him.
As the body count rises, the desperate hunt is on to find the murderer before any more people die. But the town doesn’t give up its secrets easily, and who makes the intricate clockwork mechanisms carved from bone and wood found at each crime?
The judges say: ‘ambitious, innovative concept and the most intricate modus operandi for killing the victims of any book this year...a real page turner’
A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone
Three generations of women from the Skelfs family take over the family funeral-home and PI businesses in the first book of a taut, page-turning and darkly funny new series.
Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators… When patriarch Jim dies, it’s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events.
The judges say: ‘a brilliant idea, a heartwarming portrait of a family with three generations of women set in an undertakers. A confident, entertaining novel with dark humour, pace and energy.’
The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry
Edinburgh, 1850.
Despite being at the forefront of modern medicine, hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. But it is not just the deaths that dismay the esteemed Dr James Simpson – a whispering campaign seeks to blame him for the death of a patient in suspicious circumstances.
Simpson’s protege Will Raven and former housemaid Sarah Fisher are determined to clear their patron’s name. But with Raven battling against the dark side of his own nature, and Sarah endeavouring to expand her own medical knowledge beyond what society deems acceptable for a woman, the pair struggle to understand the cause of the deaths.
Will and Sarah must unite and plunge into Edinburgh’s deadliest streets to clear Simpson’s name. But soon they discover that the true cause of these deaths has evaded suspicion purely because it is so unthinkable.
The judges say: The judges loved the ‘original setting in Victorian Edinburgh’ and praised the ‘fascinating medical research’ and the ‘implicit love affair building between the two main characters – the medically trained man, and the untrained women (who is clearly the smarter of the two).’
Pine by Francine Toon
They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men. Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she’s gone.
In a community where daughters rebel, men quietly rage, and drinking is a means of forgetting, mysteries like these are not out of the ordinary. The trapper found hanging with the dead animals for two weeks. Locked doors and stone circles. The disappearance of Lauren’s mother a decade ago. Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father’s turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it’s no longer clear who she can trust.
The judges say: ‘an impressive and atmospheric novel, with a portrait of remote rural Scotland, bringing in issues of school bullying, mental health and alcoholism. Very readable and engaging, It's also beautifully written.’
Announcing the 2020 Crime in the Spotlight lineup!
It's not Bloody Scotland without showcasing new crime writing talent in the Crime in the Spotlight slots and 2020 is no different, even online.
We welcome this year's spotlighters, who will be reading a little from their latest books ahead of some of our events this year.
With thanks to the Open University Scotland for sponsoring Crime in the Spotlight.
Please welcome...
Karen Hamilton
Karen will be reading from The Last Wife.
She will be supporting Jeffery Deaver at 8pm, Friday 18th September
Kate Simants
Kate will be reading from A Ruined Girl.
She will be supporting The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers at 9:25pm, Friday 18th September
Sam Lloyd
Sam will be reading from The Memory Wood.
He will be supporting Professor Dame Sue Black at 12pm, Saturday 19th September
Leela Soma
Leela will be reading from Murder at the Mela.
She will be supporting Ann Cleeves and Peter May at 1pm, Saturday 19th September
Helen Sedgwick
Helen will be reading from When the Dead Come Calling.
She will be supporting High Concept Thrills at 2pm, Saturday 19th September
Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
Dugald will be reading from The Lizard.
He will be supporting Five Continents of Crime at 3pm, Saturday 19th September
Stephanie Wrobel
Stephanie will be reading from The Recovery of Rose Gold.
She will be supporting As if Real Life Isn't Scary Enough at 4pm, Saturday 19th September
D. V. Bishop
D. V. will be reading from City of Vengeance.
He will be supporting Scene to Screen at 5pm, Saturday 19th September
Amer Anwar
Amer will be reading from Stone Cold Trouble.
He will be supporting Ian Rankin and Lawrence Block at 6pm, Saturday 19th September
Emma Christie
Emma will be reading from The Silent Daughter.
She will be supporting the Never-Ending Panel at 11am, Sunday 20th September
Chris McDonald
Chris will be reading from A Wash of Black.
He will be supporting Desert Island Crooks at 3pm, Sunday 20th September
AJ Park
AJ will be reading from The First Lie.
He will be supporting Keep Them Safe at 4pm, Sunday 20th September
Rosie Walker
Rosie will be reading from Secrets of a Serial Killer.
She will be supporting Katherine Ramsland at 5pm, Sunday 20th September
Jenny Quintana
Jenny will be reading from Our Dark Secret.
She will be supporting Step Back in Crime at 6pm, Sunday 20th September
Russ Thomas
Russ will be reading from Firewatching.
He will be supporting Val McDermid and Lee Child at 7pm, Sunday 20th September
The Bloody Scotland 2020 online programme is here!
It's been a long year and a long wait, but we're so happy to be able to reveal the programme for our virtual festival this year!
Paul Reich
A note from our director:
'What began with disappointment and seemingly endless challenges has turned into a genuine opportunity to try something a bit different this year. The festival has a truly epic scale from our biggest ever panel featuring no less than 27 authors to a session that will bring five continents online together, and there will be more spotlights for debut and emerging writers than ever before. We all know the festival won't feel quite the same this year but we have all the makings of a classic Bloody Scotland year nonetheless!'
- Bob McDevitt, Bloody Scotland festival director
All events can be booked on Eventbrite and they will be streamed live on bloodyscotland.com. Attendees will be notified on how to access the events nearer the time but for now, without further ado...
Friday 18th September
Masterclass
Pitch Perfect
The Bloody Scotland Board
The McIlvanney & Debut Prize
Jeffery Deaver
The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers
Saturday 19th September
Dame Sue Black
Peter May
Ann Cleeves
Ian Rankin
Lawrence Block
Simon Mayo
Adrian McKinty
Steve Cavanagh
Attica Locke
Oyinkan Braithwaite
Shamini Flint
JP Pomare
Lin Anderson
Tess Gerritsen
Linwood Barclay
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Helen FitzGerald
Robert Crais
Deon Meyer
Crime at the Coo
Sunday 20th September
Lee Child
Val McDermid
Denise Mina
Chris Brookmyre
Mark Billingham
John Connolly
Harriet Tyce
Ruth Ware
Liz Nugent
Lou Berney
Sheena Kamal
SA Cosby
Katherine Ramsland
and many more in the Never Ending Panel...
If you have any questions about this year's virtual events, please check the FAQ:
bloodyscotland.com/bloody-scotland-2020-faq/
or email us at
or tweet us at
We'll do our very best to help you out.
Putting on an online festival of this scale – and being able to bring it to you for free – has taken a monumental effort. In achieving it, we are grateful for the support of our funders and sponsors, without whom it wouldn’t have happened.
However, there are still costs associated with an online venture – paying authors and chair people, fees for festival and technical staff, plus the associated costs of programming, marketing and publicity – and we’d be glad of any help to cover them. The receipt of any donations may also allow us to make the festival available to even more people and help us plan for the 10th anniversary festival in 2021.
If you're able to donate, please go to bloodyscotland.com/donate
or you can text BLOODY plus the number of the amount you'd like to give (up to £20) to 70490 (e.g. 'BLOODY 5' will donate £5, 'BLOODY 10' will donate £10, etc) Each text will cost your donation plus one standard network rate message.
But whether you want to donate or not, please register to watch for free, and we’ll see you all in September. We can’t wait!
Debut shortlist & McIlvanney Prize longlist 2020 announced!
2020 might be a year like no other and we won't be gathering in Stirling in September like we usually do but the prizes must go on! We're so chuffed to announce the shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Book of the Year and the longlist for the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, and includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.
With thanks to The Glencairn Glass, the World’s Favourite Whisky Glass and the Official Glass for Whisky for sponsoring the prize this year, and to Culture & Business Fund Scotland who have generously matched the funding.
Congratulations to all!
Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Richard Osman and Karen Robinson announce the lucky nominees here:
https://youtu.be/xTPBltasM_o
Deborah Masson, Hold Your Tongue (Transworld)
Stephen O’Rourke, The Crown Agent (Sandstone)
Marion Todd, See Them Run (Canelo)
Francine Toon, Pine (Doubleday)
You can find out more about the debut shortlist here.
Lin Anderson, Time for the Dead (Macmillan)
Lisa Gray, Bad Memory (Thomas & Mercer)
Andrew James Greig, Whirligig (Fledgling)
Doug Johnstone, A Dark Matter (Orenda)
Val McDermid, How the Dead Speak (Little, Brown)
Ben McPherson, The Island (HarperCollins)
James Oswald, Bury Them Deep (Headline)
Ambrose Parry, The Art of Dying (Canongate) aka Chris Broomyre and Marisa Haetzman
Mary Paulson-Ellis, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing (Mantle)
Caro Ramsay, The Red, Red Snow (Severn House)
Craig Robertson, Watch Him Die (Simon & Schuster)
Francine Toon, Pine (Doubleday)
You can find out more about the McIlvanney Prize longlist here.
Bloody Scotland 2020 cancelled
Hello friends,
It may not come as a surprise but we’re very sad to announce that Bloody Scotland will not be taking place in Stirling this year due to the global Coronavirus pandemic. The safety of our team, participants and audiences is paramount and even if social distancing restrictions are lifted by September, we feel we cannot proceed as normal without knowing safety can be absolutely assured.
Though we will greatly miss celebrating the finest local and international crime writing at the festival, we hope to bring you a wee taste of that classic Bloody Scotland atmosphere in the form of online events which we are currently in the process of plotting. More about that will be announced on a later date so make sure you’re following us on all the usual channels and join the mailing list for the latest updates.
Until then, please stay home and stay safe.
All the very best from the Bloody Scotland team.
If you have any questions please send them through to info@bloodyscotland.com
Dates for Bloody Scotland 2021 are currently scheduled as 17 - 19 September, should circumstances deem it possible closer to the time.
Four Blokes Go Wild(ish) in Spain
Prologue
For the last few years Bloody Scotland has been forging a relationship with a noir festival, Xabia Negra, in the town of Javea on Spain’s Costa Blanca. With the support of the local town council we have had authors such as Graeme Macrae Burnet, Abir Mukherjee, Craig Robertson, Lin Anderson and Alexandra Sokoloff appear at the festival. This year, due to local elections, the council decided to rest the festival but, keen to keep the link with Bloody Scotland, invited the Four Blokes (Douglas Skelton, Mark Leggatt, Neil Broadfoot and myself) to put on a one-off event.
Day 1
And so the Four Blokes booked their flights, purchased their Euros and packed the sun cream for a trip to Spain.
Unfortunately, due a domestic emergency, Neil had to withdraw at the last minute. So the Four Blokes became the Tres Amigos.
The three of us departed the shores of the UK at an hour only fit for farmers and those that forgot to go home the night before. We departed on the 31st of January, Brexit Day. We did have a minor worry that we may not be allowed back in. But that had nothing to do with Brexit and isn't something that need bother anyone reading this. It was also transfer deadline day for the football. Mark spent the day waiting on the call from Manchester United to fill the striker’s position – he’s still waiting.
And so we left the rain and we landed in the sunshine. We left the cold and arrived in the heat. We left sober and arrived … well you get the picture.
Javea’s old town - this is what blue sky looks like for the sun-starved of the UK.
Our first task was to visit a bar, well what else? But, being good boys, we stuck to a rigid diet of Café con Leche.
Mark and Douglas – with Douglas winning on the cool-look stakes.
Post the coffee I had arranged to meet the Javea council’s representative, Pepa Roig, to visit the venue and make the necessary arrangements for the event. The venue turned out to be fantastic. Owned by the church our room sat in a renovated 18th century building.
The venue and the calm before the storm.
After scouting the venue - and given it was a Friday night - and given we were in Spain - and given the bars were open we decided to sample the local nightlife in Javea. A quiet night was had, well as quiet as you can expect from three ageing rock stars on the eve of a gig – in other words we went wild(ish) – threw caution to the wind and almost stayed out ‘till midnight.
Somewhere, in the less salubrious part of town, three men sort out the world’s problems.
Day 2
We awoke to a sun-drenched day of waving palm trees, balmy breezes, lapping waves and the plaintive cries of frigate birds whirling in the cloud peppered sky. (Dear cliché monster than you for the last sentence.)
Actually, it rained. Admittedly for all of ten minutes and in such a manner that it would be embarrassed to call itself rain back in the West of Scotland.
We’d all arranged to meet up at lunch time for a bite to eat and a quick chat about the gig. Not for a rehearsal; there’s no way to rehearse Four Blokes – it’s a straight fly by the seat of your pants exercise every time. However, we felt we needed to ring a few changes and the plan for the evening was to mix things up a bit by taking a leaf out of the improv comedy circuit. The first half of the gig would be the usual mix of one author writing while the others answered the audience’s questions. In this way we construct a crime story live but, and this is the large, elephant sized but, we decided to allow the audience to throw a few curveballs our way in the second half. We planned to ask them to draw from the Tea Cosy of Inspiration (which is fair enough as it where we draw our inspiration from) – but in this case an audience member would draw out a ‘Make it Awkward for Us’ slip and challenge whoever was writing next to add in a sentence of their choice – or write the next section in a particular style – or introduce a new character and so on (see below). Later in this blog I’ll let you know if this addition was a resounding success or a spectacular own goal.
| What sentence should the next Bloke start with? | What sentence should the next Bloke start with? | What sentence should the next Bloke start with? |
| In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
| What word should the next Bloke include? | What word should the next Bloke include? | What word should the next Bloke include? |
| What character should the next Bloke include? | What character should the next Bloke include? | What character should the next Bloke include? |
The ‘Make it Awkward for Us’ Sheet.
Once the new format was agreed we retired to the balcony, stricken with the effort of talking to each other.
Stricken authors drained of their creative juices.
The Night Itself
And so to the gig itself. We had arranged to do a sound check at five o’clock (sound checking - that is so rock’n’roll). But if there is one thing you learn about Spain it’s that they have a relaxed attitude to life. This is a wonderful trait and one that we really should embrace in the UK but on this occasion the word relaxed, when applied to the arrival of the sound equipment, stretched even the loosest definition of ‘mañana culture’. With the gig kicking off at eight and the audience due to arrive from seven-thirty, the sound man appeard at just before seven, a rather nerve inducing two hours late. As a result the sound check was conducted while some of the audience were coming into the venue.
With the large numbers anticipated (we had close on a hundred and twenty people) - effectively a sell-out - we needed some help at the door to manage the throbbing throngs. In addition, we also needed a little help throughout the evening with things like the roving mike and to help with the new format. With the Tres Amigos on stage it fell to a friend of mine, Ian Hall, who manfully stepped into the breach and became ‘the fourth bloke’ for the evening. And at this point I need to give a big thanks to him for his help.
Ian and Douglas invigilating as Mark sits the compulsory pre-show exam (he failed).
Just prior to the gig the Councillor for Culture in Javea, Quico Moragues, popped into say hello. And I’d like to say a big GRACIAS to both Quico and Pepa Roig for both the council’s support and help in putting on the show. And while I’m at it I need to thank Bloody Scotland for all their support in getting us all to Spain.
‘Quico Moragues and the Tres Amigos.’
Sound issues sorted, photos taken, teeth brushed, fresh pants donned and copious underarm anti-perspirant applied - we said hello to our audience.
Our wonderful audience.
And so to work. The first order of business was to ask the audience to select the main protagonist and the murder weapon that would feature in our story. Ian dutifully collected the slips from the audience and placed them in the Tea Cosy of Inspiration.
The Tea Cosy of Inspiration with Ducky and spoon (don’t ask).
The protagonist was drawn and was one Dick Pinto and the weapon of choice a boomerang. And that was what we had to work with. Douglas was selected by the audience to start writing and myself and Mark got down to talking as Douglas donned the Tea Cosy of Inspiration. The night fair flew by. Much laugher was had accompanied by more than a few groans. Douglas, Mark and myself desperately wrestled a story, word by word, into shape as we tried to create something cohesive (which to be fair would be a first). During the second half of the show we introduced the ‘Make it Awkward’ section and this went down well although it did make it slightly more difficult for us – but, hey, where’s the no pain.
A photo that shows me, mid-type as Mark holds court with Douglas trying to get a word in edgeways.
Douglas rounded off the night by drawing the short straw and had to find a way to finish the story. He exceled by producing a fantastic conclusion that manged to include, at an audience members’ suggestion, Theresa May.
As we finished the gig the audience rose to its feet as one, mainly to make for the exit.
This was probably one of the best nights we’ve had as the Four Blokes and it's a pity Neil couldn't make it to share in it.
After chatting, signing books and generally winding down we retired to the, wait for it, bar for a well-earned non-alcoholic beverage (there is a lie buried in that last sentence).
Day 3 (the day after)
The day after the night before dawned to find the Tres Amigos full of life, vigour and bursting with energy. Or as it is more commonly known in Scottish parlance – we were knackered.
A slightly jaded but in good humour Mark and Douglas.
We all roamed the wilds of Javea on our own in the morning and wandered the wilds of Javea together in the afternoon as a pack.
Douglas photographing orange trees –
for reasons known only himself he spent most of Sunday in this pursuit.
We closed of Sunday night with a pizza the size of the moon and a couple of gallons of tea before retiring for an early night. Something we do a lot.
The pizza beat us.
Conclusion
And that ended the Four Blokes/Tres Amigos/Three Blokes and Ian my friend’s* (*delete as required) weekend in Javea.
My conclusion – a great weekend and great show. Judging from the social media reaction on the Sunday the audience had a wonderful time and according to Quico Moragues the council will be in touch about the future - so we must have done something right.
The continual drive to spread the word about Scottish crime writing continues and the Four Blokes will soon be taking the message to a much wider audience closer to home when we appear at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival on Wednesday the 18th of March at the Glad Café in Shawlands – tickets a very reasonable £6 each – what are you waiting for?
Not The End
- Gordon Brown
McIlvanney Prize 2019 winner is Manda Scott!
The judges of the McIlvanney Prize this year were Jamie Crawford, Alison Flood and Stuart Cosgrove who said of the winner:
"A powerful, complex and remarkable espionage thriller: a present-day murder links back to Resistance France. An intricately plotted novel which keeps the reader guessing right to the end."
Our biggest of congratulations to Manda Scott!
Buy A Treachery of Spies from Waterstones
Read an extract of A Treachery of Spies
Claire Askew wins the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of 2019!
Congratulations to Claire Askew who has won the inaugural Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year, 2019 for All the Hidden Truths!
In the aftermath of a tragedy, the world needs an explanation.
In Edinburgh, after the Three Rivers College shooting, some things are clear.
They know who. They know when.
No one can say why.
For three women the lack of answers is unbearable: DI Helen Birch, the detective charged with solving the case. Ishbel, the mother of the first victim, struggling to cope with her grief. And Moira, mother of the killer, who needs to understand what happened to her son.
But as people search for someone to blame, the truth seems to vanish...