THE son of the late William McIlvanney has been short listed for the crime fiction prize named in his honour.
Liam McIlvanney is one of four writers who are in the running for the McIlvanney Prize, which is part of the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival.
McIlvanny, who is based in New Zealand, has been shortlisted for the award, for the best Scottish crime book of the year, along with Lin Anderson, Chris Brookmyre and Charles Cumming.
Cumming and Brookmyre have won the prize before, and Ms Anderson is a founder of Bloody Scotland.
READ MORE: Bloody Scotland names its Spotlight writers
The award is named after the late Scottish writer whose books, such as Docherty, are often linked to the rise of "Tartan Noir" crime writing.
The festival runs from 21-23 September in Stirling.
The books were chosen by the panel of judges, which includes comedian Susan Calman and writers Craig Sisterson and Alison Flood.
The judges said that in McIlvanney's The Quaker he has "in a crowded market, created a protagonist who is fresh and distinctive.
"He takes the familiar tropes and makes them extraordinary."
Of Anderson's Follow The Dead, the judges said "one of Scotland’s long running series raises the bar even higher, a series which is constantly re-inventing itself without being formulaic."
READ MORE: The long list for the McIlvanney Prize
Brookmyre's book, Places in Darkness, the judges said "Brookmyre is creating his own genre of cosmic noir in a fully realised world - superlative off-world thriller about real world issues."
Charles Cumming's The Man Between is "a fresh twist on the spy novel, taking the genre to a different dimension, deftly weaving political events into the story. A superb page turner in the best possible way."
Previous winners include Denise Mina with The Long Drop 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012.
READ MORE: An interview with Liam McIlvanney
Bloody Scotland was established by a group of Scottish crime writers in 2012, and uses a number of venues in Stirling.
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