Debut 'moral thriller' BLOODY JANUARY to Canongate at auction...and more!

Alan Parks' phenomenal debut, BLOODY JANUARY, which Francis Bickmore at Canongate won at auction (from agent Tom Witcomb), swept up a host of fantastic rights deals at London Book Fair 2017. Michael Reynolds at Europa will publish in the US as a lead title for their crime-list relaunch.  

There has also been an auction for Czech rights (Euromedia), with Slovak (Ikar) & Turkish (Nemesis) rights sold. Payot Rivages pre-empted for French rights before the fair. And after a very positive fair – more to come!

Described as a ‘moral thriller’, the first in a new crime series set in Glasgow is Tartan Noir at its best, for fans of Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh, and William McIlvanney’s LAIDLAW trilogy. John Niven, author of KILL YOUR FRIENDS, described the book as: ‘A brilliant debut. Taut, violent and as close as you'll get to 1970s Glasgow without a Tardis. Parks is a natural successor to William McIIvanney.’

18-year-old Tommy Malone shoots a young woman dead on a busy Glasgow street, and then commits suicide, hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth cop, Harry McCoy knows it can’t be a random act of violence. With a new partner in tow, McCoy uses his underworld network to build a picture of a secret society run by Glasgow’s wealthiest family. The son, Teddy, drugged young Tommy, and convinced him it was his God-given task to kill the woman. Drugs, sex, incest; every nefarious predilection is catered for, at the expense of the lower echelon of society, an underclass that includes McCoy’s best friend — drug-Tsar Stevie Cooper — and his on-off girlfriend, a prostitute, Janey. But with McCoy’s boss, Murray, calling off the hounds, and Murray’s boss threatening to scupper the entire investigation, the Dunlops are apparently untouchable. McCoy has other ideas.