Jo Nesbo, William McIlvanney and Lee Child lined up for Bloody Scotland 2013

• Paul Gallagher
• 27 August 2013

Co-founder and crime author Lin Anderson looks forward to this year's crime fiction fest

‘It was a great idea waiting to happen’, says Lin Anderson, one of Bloody Scotland’s co-founding crime authors, ‘so we studied the reports on what the audiences loved and used that as a basis for this year.’ The results? ‘Plenty forensics, plenty fun, challenging and informative events and big popular names like Jo Nesbø and Lee Child added to our own international stars.’

This year’s programme is, if you’ll excuse the pun, criminally good, also featuring Christopher Brookmyre and Mark Billingham, William McIlvanney, Denise Mina and over 40 more bestsellers and new talents. And co-founder Alex Gray promises a ‘laidback, friendly atmosphere’, noting that ‘crime writers are the real pussycats of the book world despite their subject matter, or maybe because of it. And our panels are designed to be different and sometimes downright quirky. Where else would you find a live performance of cookery from our Killer Cookbook?’

Also hosting the announcement of the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award, Bloody Scotland is further proof of the insatiable appetite for crime fiction in Scotland. ‘Crime novels do tend to make sense of the world we live in, and allow readers a sense of fulfilment after the thrills and twists of our stories’, reflects Gray. ‘The truth’, says Anderson, ‘is what Ian Rankin has said on numerous occasions: we’re in the entertainment business.’ And they’re bloody good at it, too.

Bloody Scotland, various venues, Stirling, Fri 13–Sun 15 Sep.