McIlvanney Prize 2021: Craig Russell wins top crime fiction award for novel Hyde

Craig Russell has won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime book of the year.

The best-selling author picked up the award – named in memory of the late Scottish novelist William McIlvanney – for his book Hyde.

Judges described the novel as having “a gothic background that draws you in and brings the reader back to the Scottish origins of Jekyll and Hyde’s creator, Robert Louis Stevenson”.

They said it was a “dark tale that was a delight and a thoroughly entertaining read”, showing that Scottish crime writing is “amongst the best in the world”.

Craig Russell has won the McIlvanney Prize.

Russell previously won the award in 2015 with The Ghosts Of Altona and is the first author to win the prize twice.

He received the award at the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling’s Albert Halls.

Also honoured at the event was Robbie Morrison, who won the Debut Prize for his book Edge Of The Grave.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.