Alan Parks’ WW2 trilogy curtain-opener GUNNER longlisted 2025 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year

Ahead of its debut later this month, plaudits are already ringing out for Alan Parks’ new novel GUNNER – the first in a new World War Two-set trilogy – which has made the longlist for this year’s prestigious McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The book will be out in hardback, eBook and audio from Baskerville from 17 July 2025, supported by an array of events in both Scotland and England.

Already a winner of the prize, having scooped the 2022 award for his acclaimed Harry McCoy novel MAY GOD FORGIVE, this year’s longlist recognises Alan’s first foray into wartime Glasgow with wounded cop Joseph Gunner, as he is drawn into an investigation which threatens to bring the frontline much, much closer to home. He is nominated alongside fellow writers Lin Anderson, Tariq Ashkanani, Daniel Aubrey, D.V. Bishop, Heather Critchlow, Allan Gaw, Liam McIlvanney, Callum McSorley, Denise Mina, Ambrose Parry, Ian Rankin and Douglas Skelton.

The shortlist will be revealed in September, with the overall winner to be announced at the opening ceremony of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling, on Friday 12 September. Other recent winners of the prize include Chris Brookmyre, Callum McSorley, Craig Russell and Francine Toon.

Yassine Belkacemi, Editorial Director at John Murray and Baskerville, acquired UK and Commonwealth Rights (excluding Canada) for the trilogy last year, with translation rights quickly snapped up in France (Editions Payot & Rivages), Italy (Bompiani), Spain (Tusquets) and the Netherlands (House of Books). The multi-award winning Harry McCoy series – including McIlvanney winner MAY GOD FORGIVE – is published by Canongate in the UK and in the US by Europa, with translations available in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Sweden, and the Film/TV rights under option.

Congratulations Alan!

About GUNNER

March, 1941. Joseph Gunner is back on the streets of Glasgow after being wounded on the front lines in France.

Keeping the pain in his leg at bay with the help of morphine, Gunner, a former detective, is hoping to keep his head down as the Luftwaffe begin bombing Glasgow.

But when he runs into his old boss Drummond, he is persuaded to help examine a body found in the wreckage. When the body turns out to be that of a German, mutilated to disguise his identity, Gunner reluctantly agrees to investigate.

As Gunner begins to hunt for the truth he runs into old flames, bitter enemies, before finding himself embroiled in a high-level conspiracy that reaches far beyond his hometown of Glasgow.

Partly inspired by the true story of Rudolph Hess's secret mission to broker appeasement with Britain during WWII, GUNNER is an atmospheric and addictive new thriller from one of Britain's best-loved writers.

Credit: Kevin Thomson

About Alan Parks

Alan Parks worked in the music industry for over twenty years before turning to crime writing.

His debut 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 won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, the Prix Mystère de la Critique in the foreign fiction category, and was shortlisted for the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel and THE APRIL DEAD was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The fifth Harry McCoy book, MAY GOD FORGIVE, was published in April 2022 and won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2022. It was shortlisted for the 2023 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and longlisted for the 2023 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. TO DIE IN JUNE, the sixth entry in the series, was published by Canongate in 2023, and longlisted for the 2025 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. The Harry McCoy series is optioned for television.

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 as well as spending time in London.

Praise for GUNNER

‘Great storytelling… I loved it’ – Peter James

‘Great stuff… a vivid sense of place and time and what a main character!’ – Ian Rankin

‘A lean, mean and ruthlessly readable thriller.’ – Vaseem Khan

‘A brilliant milieu, fantastic characters, an exciting story – in other words another typically great Alan Parks novel.’ – Adrian McKinty

‘A superb thriller with a gripping, constantly surprising plot.’ – Andrew Taylor

‘Transports you to the streets of war-torn Glasgow. A gritty, immersive, genuine page-turner.’ – Bridget Walsh, author of the Variety Palace Mystery Series

‘Pulls the reader in from page one. Wonderful, gutsy writing.’ – David Gilman

Praise for Alan Parks

‘One of the great Scottish crime writers’ – The Times

‘Tipped to become an enduring classic of tartan noir.’ – Sunday Post

‘Dark and gritty… Gripping.’ – Crime Monthly

‘A brilliant series’ – Sunday Times Crime Club

‘Bloody and brilliant’ – Louise Welsh (on BLOODY JANUARY)

‘Pitch-black Tartan noir: bleak, but with an emotional heart that's hard to ignore.’ – Daily Mail (on FEBRUARY’S SON)

‘Manoeuvring through the mean streets of Glasgow, the morally ambiguous, deeply flawed McCoy makes an ideal antihero.’ – Publishers Weekly (on BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, Edgar Prize Winner 2022)

‘Altogether one of the best police thrillers of the last few years.’ – Morning Star (on THE APRIL DEAD)

Visit Alan’s website

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Kat Lister’s beguiling exploration of art, FRAGILE BODIES, won at auction by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Credit: Grace Gelder

Kat Lister’s new non-fiction book FRAGILE BODIES: Art Born of Bodily Trauma, exploring the impact of physical adversity on the lives of seven extraordinary artists who confronted and transformed their suffering into creativity. Jenny Lord, Executive Publisher of Orion Literary, won UK and Commonwealth rights in Kat Lister’s in a hotly-contested auction, from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann. FRAGILE BODIES will be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in Spring 2027.

‘What a privilege it is to be delving into the lives of these extraordinary artists whose stories tell us so much about what makes us human,’ said Kat. ‘Using my own history as a gentle guiding hand, I am keen to delve into the complexities of this sensitive subject, its shadows and light. I can't think of a better home for Fragile Bodies than at W&N, under the matchless stewardship of Jenny Lord who has worked with so many writers who have inspired me over the years.’

‘Kat is a beautiful writer with the mind of a magpie and I was utterly seduced by her beguiling investigation,’ added Jenny Lord. ‘I am so looking forward to collaborating with her at W&N.’

Art can be a response to pain, a way of making sense of the body when it turns against itself. From Henri Matisse’s cut-outs, created when he was no longer able to hold a paintbrush or stand at his easel, to the fragmentary hope of Derek Jarman’s garden in the years he spent living with HIV, via the ephemerality of Eva Hesse’s tragically curtailed sculptural life, these stories illuminate the fragile interplay between the body’s betrayals and the soul’s resilience. Through biography, cultural criticism and personal reflection, Lister explores how bodies in crisis can yield unexpected beauty – and how art can offer resistance when words or medicine fall short.

Drawing on her own experience of illness and grief, as both patient and caregiver, Lister weaves her story into those of her subjects to ask: how does trauma influence the act of creation? What are the ethics of turning pain into art? And how do we understand creativity when the body becomes a battleground? FRAGILE BODIES is a meditation on vulnerability, resilience and the human drive to create meaning – even in life’s harshest moments.

About Kat Lister

Kat Lister is a writer and editor who has worked in magazine media for nearly two decades. She began her career as a music journalist and went on to specialise in global women’s issues, writing for publications including Vice, Vogue and The Feminist Times. She regularly writes essays, arts features and profiles for an array of publications including the Guardian, the Observer, the i paper, the Independent, The Quietus and The Big Issue. Her first book, THE ELEMENTS: A WIDOWHOOD, was published 2021 by Icon Books.

Praise for THE ELEMENTS

‘A vivid, painful but beautiful articulation of grief… a deeply moving and thoughtful book.’ – Sinéad Gleeson

‘It knocked me for six: the honesty in it, the frankness, the detail, the research, the feeling, and such stunning writing … it’s not just about losing someone. It’s about rebuilding.’ – Jude Rogers

‘A staggering book. Kat writes with such hypnotic lyricism.’ – Terri White, author of COMING UNDONE

‘Masterfully crafted… the author lays out her heartbreaking grief in poetic paragraphs that will stay with her readers for days.’ – Booklist

Follow Kat on BlueSky and Instagram

Kathryn Faulke awarded 2025 Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize for ‘riveting and truly heartwarming’ memoir EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE

We are delighted to announce that Kathryn Faulke’s EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE has won the 2025 RSL Christopher Bland prize, recognising the best debut work, in any form or genre, by a writer over the age of 50. Kathryn was awarded the £10,000 prize in a unanimous decision by judges Jacqueline Wilson, Margaret Busby and Reverend Richard Coles.

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE: A Journey Into the Heart of Carework, is a vivid, poignant and unforgettable memoir recounting the author’s experiences as a careworker in London, celebrating humanity and compassion in the face of hardship. The book was published in hardback by Fig Tree last year, after publishing director Helen Garnons-Williams won a four-way auction for UK and British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada). The audiobook is narrated by Ayesha Antoine and the paperback edition will be out on 7 August. Serialised on BBC Radio 4 as their Book of the Week, Kathryn’s story has touched thousands with its warmth, humour and tenderness. As the winner of this year’s prize, Kathryn follows in the footsteps of previous honourees Raynor Winn (THE SALT PATH), Paterson Joseph (THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIUS SANCHO) and 2024 winner Chidi Ebere (NOW I AM HERE).

Upon learning the news of her win, Kathryn said: ‘I’m so honoured. I wanted people to see that it doesn’t matter how old you are, or how what illnesses you have – you are still a human being, and you can still engage. You’re still funny. You’re still interesting. You’re still lively. I really want people to see care as a profession, as something that’s skilled and positive, and as something that’s enjoyable. I just think it’s so important. I’ve always written. I wrote things to make sense of the world, and to record things that I was interested in. I love that moment where you find the right rhythm. You find the right sentence. You find exactly the right word. I came to care work much later in life, having done another clinical job before, and so I’m just overjoyed that the two things that I love so much – care work and writing – have come together in this amazing way!’

The video of Kathryn receiving the news is available to view on the RSL YouTube channel here.

‘It’s become my comfort book,’ chair of the judges Dame Jacqueline Wilson tells Kathryn in the video, ‘because though it’s got such sad things in it, it’s got such funny things too. It shows people being kind, and how wonderful the difference you’ve made to so many people… you made all those sick, elderly, sometimes crotchety people come alive as real interesting human beings.’

Wilson added: ‘The stylish shortlist shows what a variety of entries we’ve had. Any would have been worthy winners, but we were united in thinking Kathryn’s EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE simply had to be at the very top of the list. It’s a riveting book that treats elderly, infirm and irritable people as the lively and extraordinary human beings they really are. Katherine Faulke is a shining example to us all, though she’s self-deprecating and touchingly hard on herself. EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is truly heart-warming and will be in pride of place on my bookshelf of very special books.’ 

Reverend Richard Coles said: ‘It was not easy to pick a winner from so impressive a shortlist, but Kathryn Faulke’s EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE reminds us that wonderful kindness and comedy and compassion abound in the care sector, the bourne to which so many of us are destined and for which so few are prepared.’

Margaret Busby agreed: ‘We connected strongly and in different ways with all the books on the shortlist, before agreeing that the exceptional winner was EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE by Kathryn Faulke. Beyond being a vivid and consistently engaging memoir, it delivers a powerful lesson in humanity that needs to be shared.’

Congratulations also to fellow nominee Diane Abbott, who was shortlisted for her own memoir, A WOMAN LIKE ME, a fierce, witty and moving account of her Windrush-generation family, and her journey from becoming the first elected Black female Member of Parliament in the UK, to her current position as Mother of the House. Also shortlisted for this year’s award were A BOOKSHOP OF ONE’S OWN by Jane Cholmeley, THE DIARIES OF MR LUCAS by Hugo Greenhalgh, THE PAGES OF THE SEA by Anne Hawk and TREES IN WINTER by Richard Shimell.

About Kathryn Faulke

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is Kathryn Faulke's first book. She was runner-up in the Wasafiri International New Writing Prize in 2020 and in 2021 she won the Mslexia Memoir Prize for an earlier version of Every Kind of People. She has now moved out of London but continues to work in care in the South East of England.

More praise for EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE

‘The brilliant book she has written about her experience is, she says, “almost like a love story to care” … What comes through most in the book is the privilege of intimacy that comes from caring, the close relationships and love.’ – Emine Saner, The Guardian

‘A compassionate invitation to get up close to the human condition and those who attend to it.’ – Gwen Adshead, bestselling author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

‘Not just essential reading for anyone curious about the realities of care work in this country; it’s also the work of a natural storyteller, and a book full of empathy, humour, and – yes – care.  All kinds of brilliant.’ – Jon McGregor, author of IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS

‘A deeply compelling story of one of the most unsung professions, brimming with anecdotes to make you both laugh and cry. A vital book.’ – Anna Bonet, i, ‘The Best New Books Out in October’

‘An extraordinary and important book that will make you laugh, cry, admire and despair in equal measure… EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is a wonderful achievement.’ – Dr Sir David Haslam, author of SIDE EFFECTS

‘I am in love with Kate's storytelling, her ability to see the person and her fabulous, dry humour. This is a book about caring, and it’s also a book about being in love with humanity’ – Kathryn Mannix

‘This is a fantastic and important book. It reads like a novel, complete with vivid characters, humour and tragedy. Above all, it is an insight into the hidden life of a care worker. I was lost in admiration.’ – Tom Shakespeare

‘A fabulous and very necessary book. Definitely recommended.’ – Carol Atherton, author of READING LESSONS)

‘Marvellously life-affirming and utterly humbling.’ – Caroline Sanderson, Editor’s Choice, The Bookseller

‘Kathryn is the greatest recruitment officer for carers – everyone should read her book.’ – Anna Coote, Principal Fellow at the New Economics Foundation

‘Talks about what it’s actually like to be a carer: it’s full of love and full of warmth.’ – Adam Rutherford

‘EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE is an extraordinary book… The memoir works not just as a vivid insider account, but as a polemic; it should be required reading for any politician in the Department of Health and Social Care.’ – James Cook, Times Literary Supplement

The Queen’s Favourite Fictional Detective, Roy Grace, goes behind the scenes at Buckingham Place in Peter James’ THE HAWK IS DEAD

THE HAWK IS DEAD, the exciting new novel by crime writing sensation Peter James, will be published by Pan Macmillan on Tuesday 21st October 2025. In THE HAWK IS DEAD, Queen Camilla will take a leading role alongside her favourite fictional detective, Peter James’ Roy Grace.

Combining Peter’s classic fast-paced thriller with extensive behind-the-scenes research at Buckingham Palace, and  insights from members of The Royal Household, including from the Queen herself, THE HAWK IS DEAD is the not-to-be-missed publishing event of the autumn, and the perfect entry point into the world of Roy Grace for anyone yet to meet him.

Opening with a cinematic derailment of the royal train, THE HAWK IS DEAD takes Roy Grace deep into the heart of Buckingham Palace, when he is called upon to solve a murder and what looks to be a royal assassination attempt.

Queen Camilla, a well-known book-lover and reading champion through her charity The Royal Reading Room, has always been one of the very first people to receive each Grace novel, and is excited to have a starring role, alongside His Majesty King Charles, in Peter’s latest thriller.

Peter James says: ‘It’s a decade since I discovered Queen Camilla is my No.1 fan and we’ve since built up a great rapport. She asked me when I might set a Roy Grace novel in London … and the seed was sown. Where better in London than Buckingham Palace? It has been the most fascinating research I’ve ever done, learning about the inner workings of the Royal Household and the Palace.’

Francesca Pathak says, ‘Peter is much-loved by his legions of fans and has garnered an amazing twenty-one Sunday Times No.1 bestsellers. I’m delighted to publish THE HAWK IS DEAD, which sees Detective Superintendent Roy Grace taken from his home territory of Brighton and dropped into the heart of the establishment in Peter’s most thrilling tale to date. It’s the perfect place to start for anyone who hasn’t yet met Grace, and I can’t wait to introduce him to legions more new readers.’

Isobel Dixon says: ‘Peter James reaches an astonishingly broad range of readers, audiences and viewers worldwide through his much-loved novels, the touring play adaptations and the hugely popular Grace television series, streaming and broadcast in scores of countries. And after 20 years of bestseller-list stardom, Peter James and Roy Grace are about to reach even greater heights with this spectacular 21st title, THE HAWK IS DEAD. The stakes for this royal investigation are very high indeed, but as ever the journey will be a twisty thrill and the outcome supremely satisfying - I can’t wait to see even more readers joining the party at this exciting moment.’

To date, Peter has written an impressive total of 21 Sunday Times No. 1 bestsellers, sold over 23 million copies worldwide, and been translated into 38 languages. The fifth series of ITV’s hit adaptation of the Grace novels, starring John Simm, continues to delight audiences with significant ratings growth, and series six is currently in production. PICTURE YOU DEAD – the seventh play in Peter James’ successful stage franchise – is currently selling-out theatres on a nationwide tour. The latest Roy Grace novel, ONE OF US IS DEAD, was a UK Number One in paperback in April, with the hardback reaching Number Three when it was published last October.

About Peter James

Peter James is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author best known for his crime thrillers featuring Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, who Queen Camilla recently named as her favourite fictional detective.

Praised by critics and much-loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern-day policing, he has won more than 40 awards for his work, including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. His books have sold over 23 million copies worldwide, achieved 21 Sunday Times No.1s, and have been translated into 38 languages.

His Roy Grace novels are currently filming their 6th season for the hit ITV drama, Grace, starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper and available to view on ITVX and on Britbox. Seven of his novels have been adapted into hit stage plays, with his most recent, PICTURE YOU DEAD, now on national tour in the UK. His plays have been named as ‘the most successful stage franchise since Agatha Christie’.

 

Praise for Peter James

‘If you have never read Peter James’ crime thriller series about the Sussex detective Roy Grace, I would highly recommend you give it a try.’ – Queen Camilla, Press and Journal

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Karin Slaughter

‘Peter James, Britain’s closest equivalent to Stephen King’ – The Sunday Times

‘A master plotter.’ – The Bookseller

‘James just gets better and better and deserves the success he has achieved with this first-class series.’ – Independent on Sunday

‘Peter James is one of the most fiendishly clever crime fiction plotters.’ – The Daily Mail

 

Visit Peter’s website.

Follow him on BlueSky, X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.