Bloody Scotland Debut Prize: Former Stirling student nominated

A Stirling University graduate is among five authors shortlisted for a prize at the city’s Bloody Scotland crime writing festival later this year.

Stirling alumnus Natalie Jayne Clark, Foday Mannah, Claire Wilson, Richard Strachan and David Goodman will compete for the festival’s Debut Prize, which honours new talent, in September.

Guest curator and Scottish crime writing legend Sir Ian Rankin told The Courier: “The nice thing about Bloody Scotland is it welcomes new authors and emerging authors.

“All the writers who come here are fans – they all like other people’s books. So, we all come along here as equals.”

Kathy Reichs, Jo Nesbo and The Reverend Richard Coles are among the big names on the bill for the autumn festival.

At the Bloody Scotland programme launch this week, the five Debut Prize finalists revealed a little more about themselves and their first novels.

Natalie Jayne Clark – The Malt Whisky Murders

The plot in the author’s own words: “Eilidh and her wife Morag have ditched the city to live their dream of opening a whisky distillery and disrupt the male-dominated industry, except two of the casks that they hope will sell for thousands, maybe millions, contain the bodies of two dead men from the 1970s.”

Now based in Perth, former University of Stirling English student Natalie joked: “I’ve finally put my degree to good use.”

She was living in Stirling when Bloody Scotland first started and went along to some of its earliest events.

It was years later when she took part in the festival’s Pitch Perfect competition, where writers pitch their crime novel idea to a roomful of agents and publishers, and her book was snapped up.

“I got a pre-emptive book deal and I got an agent within a week of pitching, which is crazy,” she said.

David Goodman – A Reluctant Spy

The plot in the author’s own words: “It’s about a young man called Jamie Tulloch who agrees to loan his identity to MI6 in return for a sort of helping hand through life, but then ends up on a mission himself by accident.”

Last year, Edinburgh writer David benefitted from another Bloody Scotland initiative designed to boost new authors: Crime in the Spotlight.

“And I actually finished the first draft of this book at Bloody Scotland, before I handed it in to my editor, sitting in the cafe at the Albert Halls,” he revealed.

David remembers thinking it would be nice if his novel was stocked on the shelves at the Stirling arts venue one day. A year later, it was.

A whole host of crime writers, led by guest curator Sir Ian Rankin, were in Stirling for the Bloody Scotland 2025 programme launch. Image: Colin Hattersley Photography/Bloody Scotland

Foday Mannah – The Search for Othella Savage

The plot in the author’s own words: “I got the inspiration from a real crime that occurred in Edinburgh around about 2008. A South African nurse was abducted from her house and was locked in the boot of a car for about 10 days. I used that as a foundation to write a crime novel, but also attached that to issues to do with power and the insidious nature of religion.”

Brought up in Sierra Leone in Africa, Foday now works as a high school teacher in West Lothian.

He took part in the Pitch Perfect competition in 2022 but was unsuccessful. However, he stuck by his idea and later won the Mo Siewcharran Prize.

Foday told The Courier: “You rarely see crime novels get the recognition they deserve.

“Bloody Scotland stands out in the sense that it provides a platform and it creates a situation where there’s a spotlight on crime fiction.”

Richard Strachan – The Unrecovered

The plot in the author’s own words: “It’s a gothic mystery, set towards the end of the First World War in a stately home on the coast outside Edinburgh which has been turned into a hospital for recovering soldiers.”

The Edinburgh-based author who was born in Stirling says he feels like “a bit of an interloper” at the crime writing festival.

“My book has a mystery element, but the mystery is more something that comes out of legends and landscape and folklore,” he explained.

“But I guess part of what Bloody Scotland is doing is trying to expand the parameters of what counts as crime.”

All of the Debut Prize nominees say they have received great support and opportunities from Bloody Scotland. Image: Colin Hattersley Photography/Bloody Scotland

Claire Wilson – Five By Five

The plot in the author’s own words: “It’s Line of Duty meets Orange is the New Black. It’s set in a Scottish prison. It’s got a love story, it’s got corruption, and it’s got murder. It’s got everything that you want in your crime book.”

Claire from Stirlingshire has been involved in both the Pitch Perfect and Crime in the Spotlight arms of Bloody Scotland in the past.

First and foremost, though, she considers herself a fan.

“I’ve come to Bloody Scotland for over 10 years,” she said.

“It’s my favourite weekend of the year and right on my doorstep.

“People don’t think of places outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“I mean, we’ve got Linwood Barclay in Stirling today – that’s amazing.”