The long list for the Scottish crime book of the year award, the McIlvanney Prize has been announced.
Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and several well known names are on the award's long list for the prize, the winner of which will be announced at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in Stirling, in September.
Books on the long list for the award include None But the Dead by Lin Anderson, Want You Gone by Christopher Brookmyre, Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves, Perfect Remains by Helen Fields, Out of Bounds by Val McDermid, Cross Purpose by Claire MacLeary, The Long Drop by Denis Mina, Games People Play by Owen Mullen, Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin, Murderabilia by Craig Robertson, The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid by Craig Russell and How to Kill Friends and Implicate People by Jay Stringer.
Bob McDevitt, director of Bloody Scotland, said: "In what is shaping up to be a record-breaking year at Bloody Scotland - we sold twice as many tickets on our first day as last year - I’m pleased to see so many of the highlights of the 2017 programme featured on this longlist.
"It’s also brilliant to see a few debut novels on there slugging it out with the more established names.
"I certainly don’t envy our judges the task of picking a winner from this excellent crop of crime novels."
Last year the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in honour of the late William McIlvanney.
His brother Hugh McIlvanney presented the prize to Chris Brookmyre who won the award for Black Widow.
The book went on to be shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger.
The finalists will be revealed at the beginning of September.
Previous winners are Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012.
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