Who’s Ready to Party in Stirling?

Organizers of the international crime-fiction event Bloody Scotland today released their longlist of nominees for the 2026 McIlvanney Prize:

• The Hollow Boys, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• 138 Main Street, by Gavin Bell (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Quite Ugly One Evening, by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus)
• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Bantam)
• Unknown, by Heather Critchlow (Canelo Crime)
• Solitary Agents, by David Goodman (Headline)
• We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion)
• Rat Race, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Polygon)
• The Pinnacle, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Liar Thief, by May Rinaldi (Black Spring Crime)

This award is named for novelist William McIlvanney (Laidlaw) and is intended to honor “the best Scottish Crime book of the year.” It’s sponsored by The Glencairn Glass.

The winner will be announced on Friday, September 18, along with this year’s recipient of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. There are five contenders for that latter commendation, all penned by women and all but one of them also a candidate for the McIlvanney:

• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Bantam)
• Original Sins, by Linda Duncan McLaughlin (Into Books)
• We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Liar Thief, by May Rinaldi (Black Spring Crime)

These presentations are elements of the schedule for the 2026 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, which will take place in Stirling, Scotland, from September 18 to 20.