Now the Race Really Heats Up

With only a couple of weeks still to go before the start of this year’s Bloody Scotland conference (to be held in Stirling, Scotland, from September 8 to 10), organizers have shared their list of finalists for the 2017 McIlvanney Prize. Formerly known as the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award, this coveted accolade was renamed last year in honor of the late author William McIlvanney. On the shortlist are:

• Out of Bounds, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
• The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Random House)
• Murderabilia, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
• The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid, by Craig Russell (Quercus)
• How to Kill Friends and Implicate People, by Jay Stringer
(Thomas & Mercer)

Agreeing on these five contestants must have been quite a challenge for the judges, as it meant eliminating works by such genre celebrities as Ian Rankin, Ann Cleeves, and Chris Brookmyre, all of which appeared among the longlisted titles.

The winner is to be announced during opening-night festivities at Bloody Scotland, on September 8. It comes with a £1,000 cash reward, plus nationwide promotion at Waterstones book retailers.