Crime-writing debuts up for Mcilvanney prize

TWO debut novelists have been shortlisted for the Mcilvanney Prize for Scotland’s crime book of the year.

Emma Christie and

Robbie Morrison have beaten some of the biggest names in crime fiction to be in the running for the prestigious prize. They are joined by the 2015 winner Craig Russell, and established names Stuart Macbride and Alan Parks on the five-strong shortlist.

The winner will be announced on the opening night of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, at the Albert Halls in Stirling on September 17.

The prize, sponsored by The Glencairn Glass, is dedicated to the late William Mcilvanney, described as the father of the Tartan Noir genre.

The prize for Scotland’s best crime book of the year was launched in 2012 but five years ago it was renamed the Mcilvanney Prize in memory of the novelist, short story writer and poet who died in 2015. It includes a Glencairn Crystal Decanter, £1,000 and promotion in Waterstones.

The judging panel said they “loved the presentation of Victorian Edinburgh and Celtic myths” in Craig Russell’s novel Hyde; and praised Alan Parks’s book The April Dead for its “welldrawn characters and cliffhanger ending”.

They called The Coffinmaker’s Garden by Stuart Macbride “a dark, edgy and original novel”.

Emma Christie’s first novel, The Silent Daughter, is hailed as “taking the domestic noir genre and offering something fresh and different with well-controlled characters”, while Morrison’s debut, Edge Of The Grave, is described as “a compelling exploration of gangland Glasgow, with a brilliant sense of period.”

The five finalists were chosen from a long-list of 13.