Alan Parks’ BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER wins le Prix Mystère De La Critique

Alan Parks has been awarded the Prix Mystère De La Critique for BOBBY MARS FOREVER – the French title of BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, the third book in Parks’s critically acclaimed Harry McCoy series. The much-loved series has won awards in several countries – this follows the Edgar Prize win for the same title in the US and the McIlvanney Prize for MAY GOD FORGIVE, presented at the Bloody Scotland festival last year.

Alan was presented with this latest prize in person at the Un Aller Retour Dans Le Noir festival in Pau on Sunday (1 October 2023). The award, one of the longest-running crime novel prizes in France, is given by Georges Rieben and his colleagues from the Mystère Magazine, with one prize for the best French crime novel, and another for international crime writing in translation.

Alan was also awarded, for the second year running, the Prix Rivages des Libraires – an honour bestowed by a panel of 100 participating booksellers from across France – following on from his 2022 victory for his previous Harry McCoy novel, L'ENFANT DE FÉVRIER (FEBRUARY’S SON).

All of the Harry McCoy novels by Alan Parks are published in France by Editions Payots-Rivages, with their next translation, THE APRIL DEAD, out in Spring 2024. The 6th McCoy title TO DIE IN JUNE, was published by Canongate in the UK in June 2023 and will be out in the US from Europa in June 2024. The Harry McCoy series is published further in translation in Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Sweden. Film/TV rights are also under option.  

Congratulations Alan!

About BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER

Glasgow. August 1973. A city on fire. Who is to blame when no one is innocent ? The papers want blood. The force wants results. The law must be served, whatever the cost.

July 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city's own rock-star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel. Alice Kelly is twelve years old, lonely. And missing. Meanwhile the niece of McCoy's boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked — off the books — to find her. McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

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. Most recently, TO DIE IN JUNE, the sixth entry in the series, was published by Canongate in 2023. 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 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)

‘Manoeuvering 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)

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Alan Parks wins McIlvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2022 for MAY GOD FORGIVE

Alan Parks has triumphed at Bloody Scotland’s 2022 International Crime Writing Festival, winning the much sought after McIlvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year Prize for his latest novel, MAY GOD FORGIVE.

The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing and includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The other finalists for this year’s prize were: THE HERETIC by Liam McIlvanney, A CORRUPTION OF BLOOD by Ambrose Parry and THE SECOND CUT by Louise Welsh.

Alan was announced as winner on the 15th of September at the Albert Halls in Stirling after all finalists led a torchlit procession there from Stirling Castle.

Ayo Onatade, chair of the McIlvanney Prize judges, described MAY GOD FORGIVE as: ‘A terrific continuation of Alan Parks’ police procedural ‘month’ series. MAY GOD FORGIVE is every bit as entertaining, gritty, darkly humorous and steeped in the grimy underbelly of Glasgow as the previous books.

‘A fantastic book with an intriguing cast of characters that not only keeps to a tight timeframe, but is fast, hard, edgy and thought-provoking; 1970s Glasgow has never been so thoroughly invoked. A truly gripping read.’

MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth in Alan Parks’ highly acclaimed Harry McCoy series and sees a desperate search for two kidnapped boys in an unruly Glasgow. It was published in the UK by Canongate earlier this year, and by Europa in the United States. The series is sold in more than ten countries around the world, and Alan is currently working on the sixth instalment.


About Alan Parks

Alan Parks was Creative Director at London Records in the mid 1990’s, then at Warner Music, where he created ground-breaking campaigns for artists including All Saints, New Order, The Streets, Gnarls Barclay and Cee Lo Green. He was also Managing Director of 679 Recordings, a joint venture with Warner Music. His debut novel BLOODY JANUARY propelled him onto the international literary crime fiction scene immediately and his work has been hailed by contemporary writers and critics alike.

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 was picked as a Times Best Book of the Year, won an Edgar Award and has been 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.

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 that is so vividly depicted in the 1970s setting of his Harry McCoy thrillers.

Praise for MAY GOD FORGIVE

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is the fifth instalment in a remarkable series that began with BLOODY JANUARY. The novels, as someone once said, can be read in any order; the important thing is to read them all.’ – Mark Sanderson, The Times, ‘The Best New Crime Fiction for May 2022’

‘MAY GOD FORGIVE is a bleak and violent book, full of grisly details not for the squeamish, but also tenderness, poignance and hard-earned wisdom.’ – Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

‘Noir has long been the dominant colour in the palette of such Scottish writers as Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, but Parks manages to find a deeper shade of black, only slightly attenuated by Harry's willingness to go far off the grid to extract a wee bit of justice. A must for those who take their noir straight, no chaser; others should keep the Pepto handy.’ – Bill Ott, Booklist

‘Enjoyably readable… Parks is a gifted story-teller’ – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘Harry McCoy is the brightest dark star on the Tartan Noir scene for some time and in future critics of Scottish crime fiction will surely be referring to the triumvirate of Laidlaw, Rebus and McCoy … MAY GOD FORGIVE is crime fiction which pulls no punches, powerfully told and, at times, heartbreakingly poignant. One of the crime novels of 2022.’ – Mike Ripley, Getting Away With Murder

 

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SENSATIONAL DEBUT, BLOODY JANUARY BY ALAN PARKS, PUBLISHED TODAY

Published by Canongate today in hardback and ebook, Alan Parks’ debut is Tartan Noir at its best. BLOODY JANUARY is the first in a new crime series set in 1970s Glasgow, revealing the dark underbelly of the city and the people who control it. Fans of Ian Rankin, Louise Welsh and William McIlvanney will be riveted by this gritty crime novel and its hard-edged detective.

When a teenage boy shoots a young woman dead in the middle of a busy Glasgow street and then commits suicide, Detective Harry McCoy is sure of one thing. It wasn’t a random act of violence.

With his new partner in tow, McCoy uses his underworld network to lead the investigation but soon runs up against a secret society led by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops.

McCoy’s boss doesn’t want him to investigate. The Dunlops seem untouchable. But McCoy has other ideas …

In the lead up to its publication, an extraordinary amount of praise has flooded in for BLOODY JANUARY from the likes of Ian Rankin, Peter May, Louise Welsh, Alex Gray and many more. Lesley Kelly (author of THE HEALTH OF STRANGERS) pronounced it as ‘a deliciously dark read’ and Ian Rankin described it as ‘an old-school cop novel written with wit and economy . . . Think McIlvanney or Get Carter.’

After a packed out event at Edinburgh literary festival, Alan was featured in a Bookseller double-page interview, with BLOODY JANUARY a pick of the month for the December Fiction preview. The novel also featured on Netgalley’s Cream of Crime newsletter, and Pigeonhole began to serialise the book in the two weeks leading to its official release.

There will be more appearances from Alan in 2018, with panels booked for several writing festivals, a Glasgow book launch, and several national radio interviews planned.

The excitement surrounding this phenomenal debut has led to deals with Euromedia in Czech, Ikar in Slovakia and Nemesis in Turkey. In the US, Europa Editions will publish BLOODY JANUARY as a lead title for their crime-list relaunch.

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.

Follow Alan on Twitter

 

Praise for BLOODY JANUARY

‘An old-school cop novel written with wit and economy… Think McIlvanney or Get Carter’ – Ian Rankin

‘Vivid and evocative. 1970s Glasgow hewn from flesh and drawn in blood.’ – Peter May

‘Bloody and brilliant. This smasher from Alan Parks is a reminder of how dark Glasgow used to be’ – Louise Welsh

‘BLOODY JANUARY firmly sets Alan Parks in the same league as
Ian Rankin and Louise Welsh’ – Sarah Pinborough

‘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’ – John Niven

‘A deliciously dark read. One to be read with the lights on and the doors locked, this book is a must-have for lovers of McIlvanney and all things noir’ – Lesley Kelly

‘An authentic freefall through Glasgow’s criminal underworld from a great, intriguing new Scottish voice’ – Jenni Fagan

‘BLOODY JANUARY is seriously good’ – Alex Gray

‘So well written I couldn’t believe it was a debut’ – Russel McLean

‘A gripping and well crafted debut’ – Quintin Jardine