Frances Crawford from Glasgow has become the first person to win both the McIlvanney Prize for Scotland's crime book of the year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize in the same year, achieving this distinction at the age of 64 with her debut novel 'A Bad, Bad Place'. The murder mystery won acclaim at the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling, adding to a string of accolades it has already received since its publication in February.

Crawford took up writing late in life, completing a creative writing course at the University of Glasgow and graduating with distinction at age 60, having been encouraged by her tutor to develop a short story into a full novel. Her crime fiction, set in 1979 and told partly from the perspective of a 12-year-old discovering a murder in Possilpark where Crawford grew up, was published by Transworld following a ten-way auction. The McIlvanney Prize carries a £1,000 award and promotion through Waterstones, whilst 2026 marked the first year the Bloody Scotland festival had an all-woman shortlist for the Debut Prize.