Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE wins Best International Crime Fiction prize at the Ned Kelly Awards

We are delighted to announce that Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE has been announced as the winner of the Best International Crime Fiction prize at Australia’s Ned Kelly Awards!

Run by the Australian Crime Writers Association, the Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious honours for the best crime fiction and true crime writing published in Australia. A CASE OF MATRICIDE, published by Text Publishing in Australia in October 2024, won against fellow nominees Michael Bennett, David McCloskey, Charity Norman, Jacqueline Bublitz and Michael Connelly.

A CASE OF MATRICIDE – in which small-town French police inspector Georges Gorski must investigate the overlapping paths of a deceased business magnate, a shadowy stranger with no apparent reason to be there, and the titular threat of familial murder – sees Graeme receive his second nomination at the Ned Kelly Awards, having also been recognised for his Booker-longlisted standalone CASE STUDY in 2022.

Alongside Text Publishing, A CASE OF MATRICIDE was published in North America by Biblioasis and, most recently, as a paperback in the UK by Saraband in May 2025. The audiobook edition is published by Bolinda, and rights have sold to Impedimenta in Spain. Graeme will return this autumn with his new novella BENBECULA, the latest entry in Polygon’s Darkland Tales series, in which Scotland’s best writers reimagine moments from the country’s past – Polygon, Biblioasis and Text will all publish in October 2025.

Congratulations Graeme!

About A CASE OF MATRICIDE

In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s bars, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski mulls over the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons.

Graeme Macrae Burnet pierces the respectable bourgeois façade of small-town life in this deeply human story. He draws a wry humour from the tiniest of details and delves into the darkest recesses of his characters’ minds to present a fascinating puzzle that blurs the boundaries between suspect, investigator and reader in an entertaining, profound and moving novel.

Credit: Euan Anderson

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London.

His first novel, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADÈLE BEDEAU (Contraband, 2014), received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and was longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. A second Inspector Gorski novel, THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35, was published in 2017, and the trilogy was completed in 2024 with the ‘tragic, cinematic, propulsive' (Martin MacInnes) A CASE OF MATRICIDE.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and the Vrij Nederland Thriller of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the LA Times Mystery Book of the Year and the European Crime Fiction prize. It has been published in over twenty languages. CASE STUDY was published in 2021 by Saraband (UK), Text (ANZ) and Bolinda (UK audio) to wide critical acclaim. The North American edition was published in 2022 by Biblioasis. It has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and the Dublin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Ned Kelly International Crime Prize. It has been published in fifteen languages.

Graeme was named Author of the Year in the 2017 Sunday Herald Culture Awards and has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Ireland, Germany, Poland and France, as well as in the UK.

Praise for A CASE OF MATRICIDE

‘A dizzyingly immersive experience. Macrae Burnet’s Gorski novels were already a significant achievement, but the concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction.’ – Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of IN ASCENSION

‘Burnet plays metafictional games, but the book pulls off the rare double of being emotionally involving as well as teasingly tricksy.’ – Jake Kerridge, 5* review, The Telegraph

‘Brilliantly weird.’ – Paula Hawkins, author of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

‘I’ve long appreciated the way Burnet’s novels are in conversation with earlier times… min[ing] the postmodern era without pretense and with deep respect… You can gulp down A CASE OF MATRICIDE in one sitting, as the prose style seems to demand. But linger over Burnet’s novel, and its real pleasures emerge.’ – Sarah Weinman, New York Times

‘A CASE OF MATRICIDE demonstrates literary talent of the highest order… Details of place are especially rich, and the subtle mores of the small town are reflected in Gorski’s misguided incorruptibility… few writers can rival Burnet.’ – Andrew Rosenheim, The Spectator

‘Macrae Burnet brings a slyly playful quality to his reimagining of the classic police procedural… and here delivers a wickedly funny novel that owes as much of a debt to Albert Camus as it does to Georges Simenon.’ – Declan Burke, Irish Times

‘Burnet has proved to be a durable talent, and A CASE OF MATRICIDE continues his upwards trajectory… this final book in a trilogy is a triumph.’ – Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A CASE OF MATRICIDE finished up his Gorski trilogy with all the Kafkaesque shenanigans, paranoia and observational bathos you could wish for. It’s an incredibly fun, cleverly crafted novel that works on so many levels I can even forgive him for being a postmodernist.’ – Eimear McBride, The New Statesman, ‘Books of the Year 2024’

Visit Graeme’s website.

Follow Graeme on X (previously Twitter) and Instagram.

Graeme Macrae Burnet pens new novella BENBECULA for Polygon’s Darkland Tales

Photo credit: Euan Anderson

Booker shortlisted author Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new book, BENBECULA, has been acquired by Scottish independent publisher Polygon. The book will be the sixth entry in Polygon’s acclaimed Darkland Tales series, in which Scottish authors reimagine key moments from Scottish history, myth and legend. Graeme’s novella will join previous titles in the series including RIZZIO by Denise Mina, HEX by Jenni Fagan, and most recently, QUEEN MACBETH by Val McDermid. Polygon Editor-at-Large Jamie Crawford acquired UK and British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann. BENBECULA will be published by Polygon in Winter 2025, with offers from other international publishers already under consideration.

The book is based on a true story from the 19th Century – chanced upon by Graeme late in the writing of HIS BLOODY PROJECT – concerning a murder committed on the Scottish island of Benbecula.

On the 9th of July 1857, a twenty-five-year-old labourer named Angus MacPhee bludgeoned to death his parents and aunt in the crofting community on the remote Hebridean island of Benbecula. Five 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 ostracised by the community and haunted by this gruesome episode, but is he as innocent as he seems? 

BENBECULA promises a tale of darkness, violence and madness, leavened by moments of black humour and absurdity, perfect for fans of HIS BLOODY PROJECT as well as Graeme’s wider work.

Author Graeme Macrae Burnet said, ‘I couldn't be more thrilled to be writing a novella for Polygon's Darkland Tales, a series that has quickly established itself as “must-read” for anyone interested in Scottish literature and history. I find myself immersed in a grimly fascinating murder case that has haunted me since I first came across it over a decade ago.’

‘Graeme is the perfect author for the Darklands series – wonderfully adept at mashing-up convention and genre, and a master at the darkly humorous and subversive tone that makes these books such compelling reads,’ says Jamie Crawford. ‘It will be hugely exciting to see his thrilling vision for this latest tale make its way on to the page.’

Isobel Dixon also commented: ‘Graeme is so brilliant at exploring the fertile borderlands of fact and fiction in his work and I’m delighted that Jamie Crawford realised how Polygon’s Darkland Tales series forms a perfect match for that sensibility. I know that readers will be utterly gripped by what Graeme makes of this historic family tragedy in the Outer Hebrides – already we’re fielding a great deal of interest in other rights.’

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was brought up Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London. He has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Ireland, Germany and France, as well as in the UK, and has twice been nominated for the Booker Prize. He has also been shortlisted for European and American literary awards.

His first novel, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADÈLE BEDEAU (Contraband, 2014), received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and was longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. A second Inspector Gorski novel, THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35, was published in 2017, the year he won Author of the Year for the Sunday Herald Culture Awards. A CASE OF MATRICIDE, the final title in the Gorski trilogy, was published in October 2024 by Saraband in the UK and Biblioasis in the US.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the LA Times Book Awards. It has been published to great acclaim around the world and is optioned for theatre and film. His novel CASE STUDY was longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction 2022.

Graeme has also written shorter pieces to commission, including the short story ‘The Dark Thread’ for THESE OUR MONSTERS: The English Heritage Book of New Folktale, Myth and Legend (September Publishing, 2019/2024) and the serialised story ‘Wolverine Blues’, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and is available to listen to on BBC Sounds.

Praise for Graeme Macrae Burnet

‘Maddeningly brilliant.’ –  Hannah Kent

‘A writer of great skill and authority.’ – Barry Forshaw, Financial Times

‘Extravagantly talented.’ – Mark Lawson, The Guardian

‘He is an uncommonly interesting and satisfying novelist.’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘Utterly enthralling.’ – Angie Harms, Sunday Mail

‘There’s no denying that Booker nominee and Saltire winner Graeme Macrae Burnet’s clever blend of crime and literary metafiction has been an artistic and critical triumph. His books engross as much as they tease, setting up questions about authorship and artifice, but never at the expense of a compelling narrative.’ – Alastair Mabbot, The Herald

Visit Graeme Macrae Burnet’s website

Follow Graeme on Instagram

Follow Graeme on X

Graeme Macrae Burnet and Janice Galloway included in Publishing Scotland’s Anniversary List, 50 Books for 50 Years

We are delighted that books by Graeme Macrae Burnet and Janice Galloway have been included by Publishing Scotland’s 50 Books for 50 Years, a list of ‘iconic titles’ supported by Publishing Scotland assembled to ‘celebrate the vibrancy and breadth of Scottish publishing’.

Graeme was selected for HIS BLOODY PROJECT, his Booker Prize-shortlisted novel presenting troublesome and often conflicting accounts of a murder in a Highlands crofting community in the 1860s. The book was published by Publishing Scotland-supported Glaswegian independent Saraband in 2016, and won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award.

Janice’s inclusion was for THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING, ‘a shocking and darkly funny portrait of mental illness, loneliness and waste’ about a woman’s grief in the wake of her married lover’s death. The winner of the Allen Lane/MIND Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Book Award, and nominated for numerous others, the book was named one of Scotland’s ten favourite novels by a poll of over 8,000 readers in 2013. First published by Polygon in 1991, the book was re-issued as a Vintage Classic in 2015.

Congratulations Graeme and Janice!

Photo Credit: Euan Anderson

About Graeme Macrae Burnet

Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire and now lives in Glasgow. He has also lived in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and London.

His first novel, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ADÈLE BEDEAU (Contraband, 2014), received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and was longlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award. A second Inspector Gorski novel, THE ACCIDENT ON THE A35, was published in 2017, and the trilogy will conclude with A CASE OF MATRICIDE in October 2024.

HIS BLOODY PROJECT (Contraband, 2015) won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and the Vrij Nederland Thriller of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the LA Times Mystery Book of the Year and the European Crime Fiction prize. It has been published in over twenty languages. His latest novel CASE STUDY was published in October 2021 by Saraband (UK), Text (ANZ) and Bolinda (UK audio) to wide critical acclaim. The North American edition was published in November 2022 by Biblioasis. It has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and the Dublin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Ned Kelly International Crime Prize.

Graeme was named Author of the Year in the 2017 Sunday Herald Culture Awards and has appeared at festivals and events in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Russia, Estonia, Macau, Lithuania, Ireland, Germany and France, as well as in the UK.

Praise for HIS BLOODY PROJECT

‘This engrossing novel… is an impressive feat of literary ventriloquism. Around an atrocity in a grim backwater, it opens up vistas into social and geographical divides and conflicting beliefs about criminal responsibility.’ – Peter Kemp, Sunday Times, ‘2016’s Best Books’

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet sucked me in from the very first page with compelling narratives about a triple murder. A series of convincing but unreliable voices circles the central event and left me breathless.’ – Val McDermid, The Guardian, ‘Best Books of 2016’

‘A smart amalgam of legal thriller and literary game that reads as if Umberto Eco has been resurrected in the 19th-century Scottish Highlands.’ – Mark Lawson, The Guardian

Photo Credit: James McNaught

About Janice Galloway

Janice Galloway was born in Ayrshire in 1955. Her first novel, THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING (Vintage), now widely regarded as a contemporary Scottish classic, was published in 1991. It was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel, Scottish First Book, Italia Premio Acerbi and Aer Lingus Awards, and won the MIND/Allen Lane Book of the Year. Her second novel was FOREIGN PARTS (Vintage, 1995), which won the McVitie's Prize. CLARA (Vintage), a fictionalised account of the life of Clara Schumann, was published in 2003 and won the Saltire Book of the Year.

BLOOD and WHERE YOU FIND IT, two collections of short stories, first published in 1991 and 1996 respectively, later became COLLECTED SHORT STORIES (Vintage) in 2009. Janice also wrote two collaborative books of short fiction and poetry with sculptor Anne Bevan, and libretti, poems and a play. Prizes and awards include The American Academy of Arts and Letters EM Forster Award, and the Creative Scotland Award. She has written and presented three radio series for BBC Scotland and has been a guest on several BBC Radio 3 shows. 

Janice is the author of two works of 'anti-memoir': THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME (Granta, 2010), was shortlisted for The Biographer's Club First Book and won Scottish non-fiction Book of the Year; ALL MADE UP (Granta, 2011) won the SMIT Book of the Year and a Creative Scotland Award.

Her latest book, JELLYFISH (Granta, 2019), is a short story collection exploring sex and sexuality, parenthood, relationships, the connections between generations, death, ambition and loss.

Praise for THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING

‘I wish everyone would read THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING by Janice Galloway. Galloway writes with an unflinching intimacy in this tale of a woman mourning the death of her married lover.’ – Douglas Stuart (author of SHUGGIE BAIN), New York Times

‘Resembles Tristram Shandy as rewritten by Sylvia Plath.’ – The New York Times

‘A totally authentic portrayal of both the numbness and the frantic overthinking when you’re going through grief. There are lots of unconventional elements – the pages peppered with obsessive lists, different fonts, italicised shards of memory, commercial slogans, trash mag gossip and horoscopes – but it never feels heavy-handed. It brilliantly, agonisingly captures the indifference of a modern world eating up Joy as she struggles to cope with the loss of her partner.’ – Richard Milward, The New Statesman