The final four shortlisted novels have been announced for the McIlvanney Prize 2023.
Previously known as the Bloody Scotland Prize for Scottish Crime Writing, the award was set up by Scottish crime writers and first awarded in 2012.
From a previous long list of 12, the nominees have been trimmed down to four.
In previous years the longlist was determined by a panel of readers. This year the reader scores were referred to an academy led by crime reviewer Ayo Onatade, Waterstones category manager for crime fiction Gaby Lee and journalist and author, Craig Sisterson.
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The books nominated are Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley, The Second Murderer by Denise Mina, Robbie Morrison's Cast A Cold Eye and The Devil’s Playground by Craig Russell.
The overall winner will be decided by a panel of four judges: BBC Scotland presenter, Bryan Burnett; former editor of The Sunday Times Scotland, Jason Allardyce and Category Manager for Waterstones, Angie Crawford.
The list features two previous winners (Craig Russell and Denise Mina), a previous winner of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize (Robbie Morrison) and debut author (Callum McSorley).
The finalists, along with the authors shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, will lead a torchlit procession from Stirling Castle to the Albert Halls on Friday 15 September where the winners of both prizes will be revealed and interviewed on stage by BBC Radio Scotland’s Janice Forsyth.
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