Brookmyre wins Bloody Scotland's McIlvanney Prize

Chris Brookmyre has won the £1,000 McIlvanney Prize, previously known as the Scottish Crime Book of the Year, presented at the Bloody Scotland festival in Stirling.

Brookmyre was given the award for his novel Black Widow (Little, Brown) which deals with the subject of cyber-abuse.

The judging panel, comprising journalist Lee Randall, librarian Stewart Bain and former newspaper editor Magnus Linlater, said reading Black Widow is “like watching Olympic diving ­ just when you think the plot can’t twist again, it takes a new turn.  Even the twists have twists”.

Brookmyre's book beat off competition from three other shortlisted novels: Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid (Little, Brown), The Jump by Doug Johnstone (Faber) and Beloved Poison by E S Thomson (Constable).

The Scottish Crime Book of the Year was renamed the Mclvanney Prize this year in honour of Scottish writer William McIlvanney, who died in 2015. His brother Hugh McIlvanney presented the prize to Brookmyre on Friday (9th September).