We’re delighted that MAY GOD FORGIVE by Edgar Award-winning author Alan Parks has been longlisted for the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2022.

The McIlvanney Prize is Bloody Scotland’s annual prize awarded to the best Scottish crime book of the year and aims to raise the profile and prestige of the genre as a whole.

Also longlisted this year are: A MATTER OF TIME by Claire Askew, THE SOUND OF SIRENS by Ewan Gault, THE BLOOD TIDE by Neil Lancaster, FROM THE ASHES by Deborah Masson, THE HERETIC by Liam McIlvanney, RIZZIO by Denise Mina, A CORRUPTION OF BLOOD by Ambrose Parry, A RATTLE OF BONES by Douglas Skelton and THE SECOND CUT by Louise Welsh.

Bob McDevitt, Director of Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, said:

‘I'm so pleased to see such an excellent longlist of books in the running for this year's McIlvanney prize. Police procedurals dominate this year, set all around Scotland and from the 1970s to the present day, along with a few striking historical novels (set before the 1970s!) and some contemporary Glasgow noir. Once again, the judges have their work cut out for them!’

The shortlist for the McIlvanney Prize will be revealed at the beginning of September, with the winner announced in Stirling on Thursday 15th September.

MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth in the highly acclaimed Harry McCoy series and was published in the UK by Canongate in April, and in the US by Europa in May.

Rights to the series have been sold in more than ten countries around the world and have also been optioned for television. The fourth book in the series, THE APRIL DEAD, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize in 2021. The third book, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, recently won the Best Paperback Original category at the 2022 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

MAY GOD FORGIVE by Alan Parks

Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack on a hairdresser's has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high.

When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive the young men to prison, the van is rammed by a truck, and the men are grabbed and bundled into a car. The next day, the body of one of them is dumped in the city centre. A note has been sent to the newspaper: one down, two to go.

Detective Harry McCoy has twenty-four hours to find the kidnapped boys before they all turn up dead, and it is going to mean taking down some of Glasgow's most powerful people to do it…

Praise for MAY GOD FORGIVE

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth instalment in a remarkable series that began with BLOODY JANUARY. The novels, as someone once said, can be read in any order; the important thing is to read them all.’ – Mark Sanderson, The Times

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is a bleak and violent book, full of grisly details not for the squeamish, but also tenderness, poignance and hard-earned wisdom.’ – Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

‘Enjoyably readable… Parks is a gifted story-teller’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is crime fiction which pulls no punches, powerfully told and, at times, heartbreakingly poignant. One of the crime novels of 2022.’ – Mike Ripley, Getting Away With Murder

About Alan Parks

Alan Parks was Creative Director at London Records in the mid 1990’s, then at Warner Music, where he created ground-breaking campaigns for artists including All Saints, New Order, The Streets, Gnarls Barclay and Cee Lo Green. He was also Managing Director of 679 Recordings, a joint venture with Warner Music. His debut novel BLOODY JANUARY propelled him onto the international literary crime fiction scene immediately and his work has been hailed by contemporary writers and critics alike.

BLOODY JANUARY was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, FEBRUARY’S SON was nominated for an Edgar Award, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER was picked as a Times Best Book of the Year and THE APRIL DEAD was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.

Alan was born in Scotland and attended The University of Glasgow where he was awarded a M.A. in Moral Philosophy. He still lives and works in the city that is so vividly depicted in the 1970s setting of his Harry McCoy thrillers.

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