We’re delighted that both Alan Parks’ WW2-set trilogy opener GUNNER and Graeme Macrae Burnet’s dark novella BENBECULA have been longlisted for the Historical Dagger award at the 2026 Dagger Awards, the Crime Writers' Association’s annual celebration of the very best in crime writing.
Each novel has already garnered wide acclaim from critics and prize juries alike: this marks BENBECULA’s third longlisting, following mentions by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Highland Book Prize; while GUNNER was among the contenders for last year’s McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.
The shortlist for the award will be announced on 28 May, ahead of the prize-giving ceremony at the CWA gala dinner in July. Alan and Graeme were nominated alongside longlisted authors Nina Allan, Robin Blake, Kate Foster, Ariel Lawhon, Beth Lewis, Rob McInroy, Donna Moore, SW Perry, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Sally Smith.
Alan Parks’ GUNNER made its North American debut last month, published by Pegasus Books. It garnered starred reviews from Publishers’ Weekly and Booklist and will soon be followed by Book Two in the trilogy, DECEPTION. Whisking Joseph Gunner from Blitz-torn Glasgow to the streets of 1941 New York, DECEPTION follows Gunner as he is drawn into a Secret Service conspiracy to lead the Americans into the war – no matter what the cost. Baskerville publish in the UK on 2 July, followed by Pegasus Books in North America on 1 September. Rights to GUNNER have also sold in Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s BENBECULA is soon to be available in paperback in the UK, with Polygon publishing on 7 May. The book was named among the best of the year by both the The Times, The Telegraph and Canada’s Globe and Mail, where it was published by Biblioasis. The standalone book joins Polygon’s exceptional Darkland Tales series – where Scotland’s best writers (including Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Alan Warner and others) re-imagine true stories from the country’s past, each bringing the tales up to date with their own unique voice and identity.
Congratulations Alan and Graeme!
About GUNNER
‘Great storytelling… I loved it’ – Peter James
‘Great stuff… a vivid sense of place and time and what a main character!’ – Ian Rankin
‘In this superb historical espionage thriller, Parks excels at capturing the brutality of war… Gunner, meanwhile, is a clever, endearing hero whose personal and professional baggage have enough heft to sustain future instalments. This is a winner.’ – starred review, Publishers’ Weekly
Credit: Euan Robertson
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.
About BENBECULA
‘Unrelentingly disturbing and utterly gripping' – James Robertson
‘Some crime writers are successful at creating fully-formed living, breathing characters; others are more adept at playing games with the reader: to an almost unique degree, Macrae Burnet excels at both.’ – Jake Kerridge, ‘The 21 best crime and thriller novels of 2025’, The Telegraph
‘Burnet’s vivid portrayal of a troubled household by a man attempting to explain the inexplicable is dark, intense and utterly compelling.’ – Laura Wilson, ’The best recent crime and thrillers’, The Guardian
Credit: Euan Anderson
On 9 July 1857, Angus MacPhee, a labourer from Liniclate on the island of Benbecula, murdered his father, mother and aunt. At trial in Inverness he was found to be criminally insane and confined in the Criminal Lunatic Department of Perth Prison.
Some years later, Angus’s older brother Malcolm recounts the events leading up to the murders while trying to keep a grip on his own sanity. Malcolm is living in isolation, ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode in his past.
A beguiling psychological novel set on a remote Scottish island, based on a true story and drawing on the documentary evidence of the time, Burnet constructs a gripping narrative about madness, murder and the uncertain nature of the self.
