Bloody Scotland prides itself on supporting new talent and The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize which
began in 2019 has launched the careers of numerous Scottish crime writers including David Goodman,
Natalie Jayne Clark, Tariq Ashkanani, Allan Gaw, Claire Askew, Kate Foster and Callum McSorley.
For the first time ever, the shortlist for The Bloody Scotland Prize is entirely made up of women, which
feels extremely appropriate given that Denise Mina – a vocal champion of women’s rights – is guest
programmer for the festival in 2026. She said:
“As a previous judge of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, I am absolutely delighted to see that the 2026
Bloody Scotland Debut shortlist is entirely made up of women. For decades, short lists only had
occasional women or none at all. A debut is always a howl into an indifferent abyss. Sometimes the
abyss is listening and it thinks you’re fucking brilliant. Congratulations!”
The full shortlist for the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize is revealed to be:
Frances Crawford with A Bad, Bad Place (Transworld) An alumni of the University of Glasgow
creative writing course, she was tutored by bestselling crime writer, Louise Welsh. Described as The
List of Suspicious Things meets Shuggie Bain it was acquired by Transworld in a ten publisher
auction. It has also just been shortlisted for the Theakston’s McDermid Debut Prize. She lives in
Glasgow.
Linda Duncan McLaughlin with Original Sins (Into Books). The manuscript for this novel was
nominated for the CWA’s Debut Dagger. In the book a troubled young woman discovers that her birth
father is a convicted serial killer and confronts the possibility that she has inherited his darkness.
Linda is a playwright and a screenwriter for River City on BBC Scotland.
Kirsty Lockwood with We Know What You Did (Orion) which will be published on 4 June. Described
as Strange Sally Diamond meets Listen for the Lie, it is a character-driven suspense novel from an
award-winning Scottish journalist. Kirsty lives in Glasgow.
Zoë Rankin with The Vanishing Place (Viper). She grew up in Scotland but now lives in New Zealand
where her love of hiking in remote locations inspired the idea for her novel about a young girl who has
witnessed a double murder deep in the bush.
May Rinaldi with Liar Thief (Black Spring). She has previously been selected for Pitch Perfect and
won the 2023 Black Spring Press Crime Novel which led to their publishing it in 2025. It’s a
psychological thriller about two childhood friends, one a self-confessed serial killer, one a cop.
She lives in Dumfries & Galloway.
The judges for 2026 are broadcaster, Bryan Burnett, crime writer, Vaseem Khan and chaired by
Bloody Scotland founder, Alex Gray.
