Our 2024 festival gets off to a rip-roaring start with two hugely popular authors who have found their own routes to success. JD Kirk and Rachel Abbott both started their careers by self-publishing their novels and have grown enormous fan bases as they’ve raced to the top of the bestseller charts. In J D Kirk’s latest heart-pounding thriller, A Killer of Influence, DCI Jack Logan traverses the Highlands and the Internet to catch the killer of a group of social media influencers. Rachel Abbott’s 16th novel in a remarkable career is the gripping page turner The Last Time I Saw Him.

This event will be chaired by author Ed James.
Crime in the Spotlight reading from Simpson Grears.

Ease into the festival’s final day with two laid back literary stars whose stylish and super-smart writing has deservedly elevated the cosy novel to the top of the bestseller charts. You just can’t stand the pain? This is easy like a Sunday morning. 

Janice has raced to prominence thanks to wildly inventive novels such as The Appeal and has repeated the trick with her creepy and ingenious new book The Examiner. Robert created the much-loved Death in Paradise for the BBC, and the second in his hit Marlow Murder Club series is the fiendishly clever The Queen of Poisons. 

Chaired by Dr Jacky Collins
Crime in the Spotlight reading from LM Chilton.

SATURDAY 14 AND SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 

Following the sold-out success of last year’s debut, we are delighted to bring back the True Crime Walking Tour for 2024. 

Stirling’s ancient streets and grand facades hide dark secrets – crimes of passion, honour and avarice. These foul deeds are in the past, but there’s still evidence of them, if you know where to look. Join us as we explore some of the most notorious acts in the city’s history and the characters involved, from the macabre to the colourful. The walk will start at Stirling Castle esplanade and last for around one hour, winding through graveyards and vennels, covering several crimes and criminals from nineteenth and twentieth century Stirling. The final grisly tale will be shared over a dram, included in the booking price, in a historic local pub. 

You can find our precise meeting point at Stirling Castle Esplanade using what3words: chat.chill.suffer 

It’s your favourite crime writers as you’ve never seen – or heard – them before. 

For one night only, The Curly Coo on Barnton Street will become home to karaoke kings and queens – and much lesser royals – as they knock out a tune as effortlessly as they’d dispatch a gangland villain. 

In a bit of a change to our usual format, it will be all eyes on the bouncing ball as the bestsellers belt out ballads and bangers. Will there be murder on the dancefloor and smooth criminals? Probably. 

And what’s that? You want to sing too? Well maybe, if you ask us nicely… 

The road to publication can be as twisty as any crime novel and is a daunting prospect for any first-time writer, no matter how good the book they have written. To help you find your way, we have assembled an experienced panel of industry experts who will offer advice and answer your questions. It promises to be invaluable for any aspiring author. 

Our experts are: Sian Heap, commissioning editor at Canelo; Jade Kavanagh, literary agent at Darley Anderson; GJ Williams, author and Bloody Scotland spotlighter. 

Gordon J Brown, author and Bloody Scotland director, will chair the panel. 

Do you have a great crime novel in you, just bursting to get out? Maybe you have a blockbuster of an idea but don’t know where to start getting it into print. This is the event for you. Our iconic Pitch Perfect session has been the opening chapter for several bestselling crime writers and now it’s your chance. All you have to do is stand up before a room of your peers and a panel of publishing experts, and make your pitch.

Supported by Scottish communications agency Spey, who have generously provided a £1000 prize this year in memory of broadcast journalist and crime writer Rae Stewart.

The panel consists of; Natasha Harding, publishing director at Bookouture; Camilla Bolton, literary agent; and Vicki Young, BBC Deputy Political Editor, and Rae’s widow.

The event will be chaired by Jenny Brown. 

Three of our most innovative writers have set their latest novels on the mean and genteel streets of Edinburgh and its leafy surrounds. They have inevitably turned the capital into a freaky Auld Reekie but the results are a big win for readers. 

Emma Christie’s In Her Shadow is a pacy thriller of revenge and betrayal on the streets of Portobello. The outrageous and breathtaking Halfway House is the latest offering from the brilliant but twisted mind of Helen FitzGerald. Living is a Problem for the Skelf family in the superb sixth instalment of Doug Johnstone’s unmissable funeral director series. 

Chaired by Craig Sisterson

Three of our most innovative writers have set their latest novels on the mean and genteel streets of Edinburgh and its leafy surrounds. They have inevitably turned the capital into a freaky Auld Reekie but the results are a big win for readers. 

Emma Christie’s In Her Shadow is a pacy thriller of revenge and betrayal on the streets of Portobello. The outrageous and breathtaking Halfway House is the latest offering from the brilliant but twisted mind of Helen FitzGerald. Living is a Problem for the Skelf family in the superb sixth instalment of Doug Johnstone’s unmissable funeral director series. 

Chaired by Craig Sisterson

Different. That’s what you can expect from two of this genre’s most brilliant and unpredictable minds. Both Chris Brookmyre and Stuart Turton have built extensions on the broad church of crime fiction, taking it in wonderful, unexpected directions. Chris’s incredible new novel The Cracked Mirror amply demonstrates his fondness for shredding the rules of crime writing as the progeny of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly collide with unforgettable results. Stuart’s hard-earned maverick status is gold-stamped with the genre-bending, description defying The Last Murder at the End of the World, an extraordinary murder mystery that will leave you breathless.

This event will be chaired by author Louise Welsh.
Crime in the Spotlight reading from Rhiannon Barnsley.

Sponsored by the Open University in Scotland