Bloody Scotland: the festival that offers a Bloody good time for fans of crime fiction

The five shortlisted authors for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, from left: Martin Stewart; Allan Gaw; Suzy Aspley; Daniel Aubrey, and Doug Sinclair. Picture: Colin Hattersley

The weather in Scotland this past few months has been rather “You’ll have had your summer” with only a few hot, sunny days. But one group of people have been impatiently waiting for the seasons to turn: Crime fiction fans love autumn, as it heralds the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling.

This year the opening day is Friday 13th, and there’s a suitably spooky Fright Night panel lined up featuring Ben Aaronovitch, Stuart Neville and JD Oswald on crime novels with a supernatural flavour, plus on Saturday, Suzy Aspley, Kate Foster and Michael Malone discuss the witchy and weird.

Friday 13th will be lucky for two people, however, as Bloody Scotland crowns the winners of the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize.

Ann Cleeves, author of the Jimmy Perez novels set on Shetland, is due to appear at Bloody Scotland. Picture: Micha Theiner

The shortlist for the former consists of DV Bishop; previous winner Chris Brookmyre; Val McDermid; Abir Mukherjee and Kim Sherwood. The Debut Prize shortlistees – who you can meet at a free event in the Central Library on Friday afternoon – are Suzy Aspley; Daniel Aubrey; Allan Gaw; Doug Sinclair and Martin Stewart.

The two prize winners are announced around 6pm at the opening gala in the Golden Lion Hotel, after which they will lead a procession with the Stirling and District Schools Pipe Band, the festival’s opening night cheerleaders for several years now, to the Albert Halls.

Bloody Scotland has long supported emerging writers and this year has a free event on How To Get Published, where industry experts will offer advice. Before that is the most nerve-wracking event of the weekend: Pitch Perfect, which sees writers pitch their novel to a panel of publishing figures.

Previous winners include Alison Belsham, Kate Foster, Matt Wesolowski, and DV Bishop, a New Zealander with a background in comics who is a creative writing lecturer at Napier University.

Christopher Brookmyre, winner of the McIlvanney Prize in 2016, will be appearing at Bloody Scotland. Picture: John Devlin

He said: “Winning Pitch Perfect in 2018 helped me get an agent, and my first contract with Pan MacMillan. Since then I’ve won the UK Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger and New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Award. Now I’m a finalist for this year’s McIlvanney Prize with my fourth Cesare Aldo novel, A Divine Fury, bringing me full circle! I owe so much to this brilliant festival.”

If historical fiction is your love, on Saturday DV Bishop will chair The Rest Is History, featuring David Greig, Eleni Kyriacou and AJ West. Ambrose Parry and Mairi Kidd talk about 19th century Edinburgh on Friday, and there is a panel focussing on novels set against the backdrop of the Second World War.

To check out more new writers, catch festival co-founder Alex Gray’s New Crimes panel on Saturday morning, and if you go to the Albert Halls, you’ll see Crime in the Spotlight, which offers emerging authors the chance to read from their work, and gives the audience a sneak peek of the talent out there.

But maybe you’re after big names? Bloody Scotland has plenty, from Peter James and Elly Griffiths on Friday night to Richard Armitage (yes, the actor from Spooks and The Hobbit has had a crime novel published), to Lin Anderson, Chris Carter, Ann Cleeves, Frank Gardner, Kate London, Imran Mahmood, Peter May, Ruth Ware, Chris Whitaker, and the irresistible combination of Irvine Welsh and Louise Welsh in conversation.

There are of course a host of Scottish or Scotland-based authors to watch, from Chris Brookmyre to JD Kirk to Marion Todd and all the alphabet in between – with Edinburgh getting its own panel on Sunday, with Emma Christie, Helen FitzGerald and Doug Johnstone.

Plenty of writers from south of the Border make the trip, from Mark Billingham to Liz Webb via Araminta Hall, Mari Hannah, and more. But Bloody Scotland always has a strong international presence too, with authors this year travelling from Iceland, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.

Whether you prefer things on the cosy side, love a psychological thriller, are interested in true crime or are intrigued by AI, there’s a panel for you. But it wouldn’t be Bloody Scotland without a few extra-curricular events…

This year, eight crime writers will battle it out in Friday’s The Wickedest Link, which may or may not bear a passing resemblance to a certain TV quiz show. And on Saturday, make a beeline for Karaoke at the Coo where songs may be performed (or possibly murdered, depending on who takes the mic). McIlvanney Prize finalist Abir Mukherjee claims his favourite memory of Bloody Scotland was when he sang And I Love You So by Perry Como in the tiny Curly Coo bar, so brace yourselves.

After indoor excitement, how about some fresh air? You can join a True Crime Walking Tour on Saturday or Sunday, which makes its way around the city revealing chilling misdeeds before finishing with a dram in a historic pub.

Finally, if you can’t make it to Stirling in person, 15 events are being livestreamed, giving a flavour of the festival.

Really, there’s only one problem with Bloody Scotland: There are so many brilliant authors appearing you may need to buy an extra bag to take home all the books you couldn’t resist buying…

Bloody Scotland 2024 runs from Friday 13 September until Sunday 15 September in Stirling. Free standby tickets are available for those who are unemployed or on a low wage, and a 10 per cent discount is offered to people living in the Stirling Council area. For more information and to buy tickets, including the livestream options, visit www.bloodyscotland.com