Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre in running for crime writing prize

Novels set in 16th century Florence, Perthshire and the US are among those in the running for a major crime writing prize.

The five-strong shortlist for the 2024 McIlvanney Prize includes Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre and Abir Mukherjee.

D V Bishop and Kim Sherwood are also finalists for the accolade, which is awarded to the best Scottish crime book of the year.

The winner will be announced on the opening night of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling later this month.

The finalists were selected by the judges – BBC Scotland presenter Bryan Burnett, category manager for Waterstones Angie Crawford and journalist and editor Arusa Qureshi.

D V Bishop is in the running with A Divine Fury, the fourth book in the Cesare Aldo series.

Originally from New Zealand, he teaches creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University and won the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland in 2018 with the pitch for his first Cesare Aldo novel.

Commenting on A Divine Fury, the judges said: “A pungent and complex slice of intrigue set in 16th century Florence.

“A brilliant historical novel which feels strangely contemporary and a worthy addition to this series.”

Brookmyre, whose 30th crime novel will be published next year, won the inaugural McIlvanney Prize with Black Widow in 2016.

His latest book in the running is The Cracked Mirror, described as a cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly.

The judges said: “A truly original idea, executed with skill and imagination. The combination of Perthshire and Los Angeles shouldn’t work but it does.”

Award-winning crime writer McDermid is shortlisted for Past Lying, the new novel featuring Karen Pirie, the first of which is now a major TV series.

The judges said it was “a welcome return for the much-loved Karen Pirie in this satisfying novel which contains a few in-jokes for lovers of Scottish crime writing”.

Mukherjee has previously won the CWA Dagger for best historical novel for his Wyndham and Banerjee series set in 1920s India.

He is in the running for the McIlvanney Prize with Hunted, a thriller set in the run-up to the US election which judges described as an “excellent, topical thriller with verve, pace and style aplenty”.

Described as a “Fleming for the 21st century”, Sherwood is shortlisted for A Spy Like Me, the second in a trilogy of Double O novels expanding the James Bond universe.

The judges described it as “an exciting addition to the Bond canon”.

The Bloody Scotland Prize for Scottish Crime Writing was first awarded in 2012 and was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in 2016 in memory of William McIlvanney, often described as the Godfather of Tartan Noir.

The festival runs from Friday September 13 to Sunday September 15.