Bloody Scotland to launch virtual book club

The Bloody Scotland Crime Festival is to launch a virtual, international book club, to be broadcast via Facebook Live.

The club, being hosted in the absence of physical literary festivals this spring, will launch on 31st March at 7 p.m., and thereafter will take place on the last Wednesday of every month, with rotating hosts from the board of Bloody Scotland and a variety of journalists, bloggers, podcasters and booksellers.

The club will have its own dedicated Facebook page where crime fans can chat in an open forum moderated by the Bloody Scotland team. The Facebook page will be called Bloody Scotland Book Club but can also be accessed from the existing Bloody Scotland Facebook page.

The first instalment will be hosted by crime writer Craig Robertson who will be joined by journalist Jane Hamilton, blogger Mary Picken, podcaster Zoe Venditozzi and bookseller Simon Lloyd from Waterstones. They will be discussing Laidlaw by William McIlvanney (Canongate), Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald (Orenda Books) and Out For Blood by Deborah Masson (Corgi), who won the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize last year.

It is hoped that the timing will enable crime fans who participated in the online festival last year from all over the world to maintain a connection with UK crime fiction fans.

Festival director Bob McDevitt said: "We thought the book club would be an opportunity for crime fans to discuss their recent finds, exciting debuts and also to look back at some classic books and established authors with a fresh pair of eyes. I've certainly been reading more in the past few months and look forward to being able to chat about books in the group."