This has been a big news week in the crime writing world!

Our Sunday night headliner Lee Child was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger award last Monday for his outstanding contribution to the world of crime fiction. Our Fresh Blood author Malcolm Mackay has also been shortlisted for not one, but TWO awards (The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2013, CWA John Creasey ‘New Blood’ Dagger 2013), which confirms our suspicions that he’s certainly ‘one to watch’! Grab your tickets to our Fresh Blood event featuring Malcolm before everybody else catches on, too!

We also reckon that you’ll have failed to miss the news that a certain debut novel from Mr Robert Galbraith was in fact Ms JK Rowling’s first foray into crime writing. Journalists, industry professionals and authors were shocked that The Cuckoo’s Calling was the work of Rowling rather than a Mr Galbraith, but why the surprise, fiction fans? We’ve known all along that where there is excellent crime fiction, there is often a female author not far behind it…

This week we’re featuring some of the amazing events that feature the women of Bloody Scotland 2013.

Did you manage to make it along to Catriona McPherson’s book launch on Wednesday evening? If not, fear not – you will have another opportunity to catch the Queensferry ex-pat in September! McPherson will be appearing alongside Nicola Upson and Martha Lea in their event another time another place. All three authors specialise in tales set in the mid 19th and early-20th century, so is sure to be a must-see event for those who enjoy a bit of history with their thrillers!

What would you say if we told you that you have the chance to see blades in action at Bloody Scotland? Scared? Intrigued? Hungry..? We will be transforming the MacLaren suite into a kitchen at our Killer Cookbook event where Caro Ramsay will be asking some very special guests about their favourite dark recipes, from killer cocktails to death by chocolate…

Violent Femmes Louise Welsh and Denise Mina create some very dark material, indeed. From short stories to novels as well as Mina’s recent move into the world of graphic novels, there is a murderous thread that runs through their fiction. Our event Dark Deeds will be sure cover the dark inspiration that lurks behind their work – and we cannot wait!

And that’s only a handful of the amazing women that we have at this year’s festival – check out our for much, much more!