HarperCollins bags Lancaster’s next three DS Max Craigie thrillers

HarperCollins has bagged three new police procedurals by an “exciting new voice" in Scottish crime, Neil Lancaster, whose first thriller in the DS Max Craigie Series, Dead Man’s Grave, was published by HQ Digital in July 2021.

Belinda Toor, editorial director at HQ Digital, negotiated the three-book deal for world all language rights from Robbie Guillory at the Underline Agency. Lancaster’s next novel, not yet titled, will continue the Scottish crime series and be published in March 2023. 

The story follows DS Max Craigie and his team as they investigate the case of a missing girl. Born into poverty and groomed into running drugs, she is given a fresh start when she is fostered by a family in the Scottish Highlands. But then she vanishes. As the clock ticks, the book’s hero begins to uncover evidence of other trafficking victims going missing in similar circumstances.

Toor said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be working with Neil to publish more books in the Max Craigie series. Neil is quickly emerging as an exciting new voice in Scottish Crime: an ex-detective, his books have an authority that can only come from someone who has directly experienced many of the events he writes about in his fiction. The series is growing from strength to strength.”

Dead Man’s Grave was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Book of the Year and named a Scottish Waterstones Book of The Month. 

Lancaster said: “I’m over the moon to have signed with HQ for three more Max Craigie books. The whole team has been brilliant in helping me to develop the stories and characters and to get the books into the hands of lots of readers.”