Crime writing festival Bloody Scotland reveals longlist for 2024 McIlvanney Prize

The award for Scotland’s best crime book of 2024 will be announced on Friday 13 September as part of the Bloody Scotland Festival.

The 2024 McIlvanney Prize will be presented on the opening night of the International Crime Writing event, which is being held in the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling.

Judges of this year’s prize include BBC Scotland presenter, Bryan Burnett; Category Manager for Waterstones, Angie Crawford, and Journalist and Editor, Arusa Qureshi.

The longlist of nominees has been released today and was selected by an Academy composed of booksellers, librarians, bloggers and broadcasters.

Household names like Val McDermid and previous winner Chris Brookmyre have been longlisted for the prestigious award, as well as eight others including debut author Doug Sinclair.

He published his debut novel, ‘Blood Runs Deep’ in February this year, and the follow-up ‘Last To Die’, in May with the third instalment of the series due out in October 2024.

Another previous winner of the award has also been longlisted again. Charles Cumming has been nominated for his novel ‘Kennedy 35’ – the third book in his new thriller series surrounding BOX 88 - a covert intelligence organization that operates below the radar.

Abir Mukherjee and Kim Sherwood are both new names on the list. Abir with his thriller, ‘Hunted’, set in the run-up to the US presidential election and Kim with ‘A Spy Like Me’ which has been described as ‘Fleming for the 21st century’.

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Sponsoring the event for a fifth year is Glencairn Crystal. Design and Marketing Manager, Kirsty Nicholson,  said: “This is the fifth year we’ve sponsored the Bloody Scotland literary awards with the world’s favourite whisky glass – The Glencairn Glass – and it’s always incredibly exciting to find out who has made it onto the McIlvanney Prize longlist.

“We congratulate all the authors and wish them all the best of luck, and we look forward to seeing who wins in September. In the meantime, the summer holidays provide the perfect chance to relax and read your way through one or all of these excellent crime books!”

The McIlvanney longlist and the Bloody Scotland shortlist will be promoted in bookshops throughout Scotland from today until the presentation at 6pm on Friday 13 September.

The winners will both be interviewed on stage in the ballroom of The Golden Lion by BBC presenter, Bryan Burnett.

The full longlist revealed today is:

• D V Bishop – A Divine Fury (Pan Macmillan)

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• Chris Brookmyre – The Cracked Mirror (Sphere)
  
  

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• Charles Cumming – Kennedy 35 (HarperCollins)
  
  

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• Andrew James Greig – The Girl in the Loch (Storm Publishing)
  
  

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• Doug Johnstone – The Collapsing Wave (Orenda)
  
  

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• S G Maclean – The Winter List (Quercus)
  
  

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• Val McDermid – Past Lying (Sphere)
  
  

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• Abir Mukherjee – Hunted (Vintage)
  
  

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• C S Robertson – The Trials of Marjory Crowe (Hodder & Stoughton)
  
  

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• Kim Sherwood – A Spy Like Me (HarperCollins)
  
  

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• Doug Sinclair – Blood Runs Deep (Storm Publishing)
  
  

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• Douglas Skelton – The Hollow Mountain (Polygon)
  
  

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