Scotland

Liam McIlvanney

Liam McIlvanney is the winner of the Saltire First Book Award and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He is a regular contributor to publications including the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He is Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand, where he lives with his wife and four sons.

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Latest reviews

“This intense thriller, a finalist for the 2019 Historical Dagger Award, leaves open the possibility of a sequel featuring the troubled McCormack, with dangerous secrets of his own to hide.”

— Stop, You're Killing Me!, Nov 1 2019

“You’ll be haunted by the characters and location in this atmospheric thriller taking place in the moody, crime-ridden Glasgow of 1969.”

— The Select 7, Nov 1 2019

“McIlvanney composes beautiful prose about ugly things, but there’s another attribute that makes him special: He writes excellent curses, presumably plucked from these dark, cold streets.”

— New York Times Book Review, Nov 1 2019

“Liam McIlvanney’s The Quaker (Europa) is a stoater of a book. It’s a Dickensian crime novel written with a rich cast of characters...”

— Mystery Matters, Oct 25 2019

"McIlvanney’s depiction of a terror-gripped Glasgow upended by redevelopment and shattered neighborhoods is as important to the story as the arresting characters he has created. Readers will welcome a new master of tartan noir.”

— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), Oct 4 2019

“A beautifully crafted police procedural, The Quaker doesn’t just locate its humanity in McCormack’s personal story: McIlvanney’s inclusion of the voices of the murdered women imbues the narrative with a quietly affecting, indelible sensation”

— Seattle Review of Books, Sep 26 2019

“In the hands of an inspired writer like Liam McIlvanney, it’s the very familiarity of the hard-boiled mystery formula — burnished to perfection — that gives “The Quaker” its sinister sheen of greatness.”

— The Washington Post, Sep 24 2019