Abir Mukherjee and Val McDermid shortlisted for 2024 McIlvanney Prize

Abir Mukherjee and Val McDermid are among those shortlisted for the 2024 McIlvanney Prize.

McDermid is nominated for Past Lying (Sphere) which judges called “a welcome return for the much-loved Karen Pirie in this satisfying novel”, while Mukherjee is in the running for Hunted (Vintage), tipped by the panel as an “excellent, topical thriller with verve, pace and style aplenty”.

Joining them on the five-strong shortlist is D V Bishop, who is in contention for A Divine Fury (Pan Macmillan), which judges dubbed a “pungent and complex slice of intrigue set 16th-century Florence”.

Chris Brookmyre is also vying for the prize for The Cracked Mirror (Sphere), described by prize organisers as a “cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly”, while Kim Sherwood completes the shortlist with A Spy Like Me (HarperCollins), the second in a trilogy of "Double O" novels expanding the James Bond universe, which the panel called “an exciting addition to the Bond canon”.

The judges include BBC Scotland presenter Bryan Burnett, category manager for Waterstones Angie Crawford and journalist and editor Arusa Qureshi.

Originally named the Bloody Scotland Prize for Scottish Crime Writing and founded in 2012, it was renamed The McIlvanney Prize in 2016.

The winner will be announced in the ballroom of The Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling on the opening night of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival (Friday, 13th September). The winner will be interviewed on stage in the hotel’s ballroom by Bryan Burnett.