The programme for Scotland's first crime-writing festival has been launched.
Bloody Scotland has events covering forensics, ebooks and debates on the ethics of crime writing, as well as a discussion entitled "This house believes it's time a crime novel won the Man Booker".
Authors Quintin Jardine and Christopher Brookmyre attended the launch at Stirling's Old Town Jail yesterday.
The festival, in Stirling from September 14 to 16, will also mark three key events in Scottish crime writing: the 125th anniversary of the publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story; William McIlvanney will discuss the 35th anniversary of his book Laidlaw; and Ian Rankin will speak on the 25th anniversary of the birth of Rebus.
Crime writer Val McDermid said: "If Scotland does go for independence, there's one thing we won't be short of: we've already got more than our fair share of top-class crime writers, and plenty of them will be on show at Bloody Scotland."
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