Festival sound engineer poised for glory at crime writing festival
Audio expert Andrew James Greig is in the running to scoop the Bloody Scotland event’s top prize.
HE is a sound engineer who was originally inspired to pen novels after working at Scotland’s leading international crime writing festival.
Now he is in the running for its most prestigious prize.
Andrew James Greig was yesterday named as one of four novelists on the shortlist for the Mcilvanney Prize for the Scottish crime book of the year.
The author, from Dunblane, Perthshire, is joined by Francine Toon, who is also shortlisted for the 2020 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, and former finalists Doug Johnstone and Ambrose Parry, the pen name of husband and wife writing partnership Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.
The announcement comes six years after Greig, 65, provided and operated the audio, lighting and staging for the first Bloody Scotland festivals.
In 2014, he prepared a microphone for the late William Mcilvanney – the “father of Tartan Noir” after whom the award is named – on his last appearance at the festival, which is held each September in Stirling.
Greig’s second novel Whirligig (Fledgling Press) was praised by the judges for its “ambitious, innovative concept and the most intricate modus operandi for killing the victims of any book this year… a real page turner”.
The author said: “As a sound engineer I pinned a lapel mic on William Mcilvanney at what was to be his last appearance at Bloody Scotland in 2014.
“I never imagined that in six years time I’d become a writer myself and be a finalist for the prize that bears his name.”
Francine Toon becomes one of only a few novelists to have featured in both the Crime Book of the Year and Debut Prize shortlists.
Her thriller Pine (Doubleday) is described by the judges as “an impressive and atmospheric novel, with a portrait of remote rural Scotland, bringing in issues of school bullying, mental health and alcoholism.”
She said: “To be shortlisted for the Scottish Crime Debut of the Year has been such an honour, but to also be a Finalist for the Mcilvanney Prize is unbelievable.
“Five years ago, when I was in the Highlands at Halloween and had the idea for Pine, I never could have imagined something this
amazing would happen.”
Doug Johnstone features on the shortlist for his book A Dark Matter (Orenda). It has been praised by judges as “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.”
Chris Brookmyre, who won the Mcilvanney Prize in 2016 for his novel Black Widow, features on the shortlist for the second consecutive year with wife, Marisa Haetzman.
And Ambrose Parry’s second novel, The Art of Dying (Canongate), is
praised for its “original setting in Victorian Edinburgh”, 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)”.
“Working together has been what got us through lockdown, so having both Ambrose Parry novels named as finalists for the Mcilvanney Prize in successive years feels like such a massive endorsement of our efforts,” Brookmyre said.
The Mcilvanney prize, which recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, was launched in 2012 as part of
the first annual Bloody Scotland Festival.
The ninth annual prize, sponsored by Glencairn Glass, includes a Glencairn crystal decanter, £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.
The winner will be announced from Stirling at 7pm on Friday, September
18, when the debut prize will also be announced.
Bob Mcdevitt, Bloody Scotland director, said: “What began with disappointment and seemingly endless challenges has turned into a genuine opportunity to try something a bit different. We have all the makings of a classic Bloody Scotland year.”
I never imagined that in six years time I’d become a writer myself