A body in the Highlands
On the Radar — Crime fiction is great. It can take you to just about any setting. So if you want to relish the Scottish Highlands, you can grab Val McDermid’s new Karen Pirie novel. But if you want to catch a wave, maybe the…
DeathBecomesHer: Top five books of 2017
December, a month of dark nights, last-minute panic buys, festivities… and choosing my top five books of the year. In truth, the latter has been on my mind since January and each year I allocate a shelf where I try to set aside the books…
Murder on Christmas Eve
Edited by Cecily Gayford — Following Murder Under the Christmas Tree last year, this is the second collection of mysteries for the festive season produced by Profile Books. The appeal of such seasonal anthologies? Well, it represents a safe choice of Christmas present for the…
Big and Bloody Scotland
Torches as mighty as claymores fired up the biggest Bloody Scotland crime writing festival to date, with an opening procession from the crag of Stirling Castle, just a hammer’s throw from the Wallace Monument and the site of the Battle of Bannockburn. Held from Friday…
CIS: The classics of Tartan noir
Scottish crime fiction has a long and lustrous history. Whether set in Scotland or written by Scots there is a wealth of classics from which to choose. Our feature includes some of the earliest examples as well as modern works by still-active authors – all…
Scottish crime Book of the Year 2017 - the finalists
The five finalists for The McIlvanney Prize – recognising the best in Scottish crime fiction – have been revealed. The finalists include two of the best-known women in Scottish crime – Val McDermid (pictured) and Denise Mina; a former winner of the prize, Craig Russell; one of the founders…
Insidious Intent
Written by Val McDermid — In a crowded genre where the word ‘girl’ has become so overused in book titles, it’s a breath of fresh air to encounter a cover that makes you turn to the dictionary. Insidious adjective: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way,…
Appetite for destruction
On the Radar — It looks like 24 August is going to be a big date on the crime fiction calendar with releases from veteran crime writing women on both sides of the Atlantic – Sue Grafton and Val McDermid. But today we want to…