Crime writer Chris Brookmyre faces competition for prize from two other Glasgow authors

Chris, who was brought up in Barrhead and attended St Mark’s Primary School and St Luke’s High School, before attending the University of Glasgow, is in the running for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020 for his psychological suspense Fallen Angel.

Launched in 2005, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award recognises the very best crime writing of the year and is a hugely sought-after accolade.

Chris previously won the award with Black Widow in 2017.

This time the longlist includes two other Glasgow authors – Denise Mina and Helen Fitzgerald.

Having won the prize twice before (The End of the Wasp Season & Gods and Beasts), Denise Mina is vying to become the first author to complete a hat trick with her deeply unsettling new thriller Conviction.

Helen Fitzgerald, author of The Cry which is now a major drama for BBC1, credits her experience as a social worker in Barlinnie Prison as an inspiration for her writing, and is longlisted for her latest novel Worst Case Scenario.