A crime fiction
anthology to raise
money for charity
The Glencairn Glass – the world’s favourite whisky glass made by Scottish company Glencairn Crystal – has launched a collection of gripping crime fiction short stories by up-and-coming crime authors. The anthology features tales from 16 different authors, all of whom have previously entered the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story competition over the last three years. All of the profits from the book sales in the run up to Christmas will go to charity.
The Glencairn Glass has supported and celebrated Scottish crime writing talent
through its ongoing sponsorship of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody
Scotland Debut crime-writing literary awards since 2020. Following this, the
Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition was then launched in 2021 - an
annual competition open to both experienced and novice crime writers around the
world.
Working in partnership with Stirling University, a collection of the most
enthralling stories from the competition’s entrants has been collated for the
creation of the anthology named The Last Dram. Students from Stirling
University helped to create various aspects of the final collection, from
assisting with the curation of the stories to the design and layout of the
book.
The Last Dram has been edited by Heather J. Fitt, a Scottish, crime
fiction author based in Hampshire, who appeared at this year’s annual Bloody
Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling. The talented
authors whose stories have been featured in The Last Dram are Glencairn Glass
Crime Short Story Competition winners and runners up as well as other entrants
whose stories impressed the competition judges.
The list of contributing authors, including both experienced and debut writers,
is as follows:
Allan Gaw (2022/23 runner up) –
Allan has since gone on to win this year’s Bloody Scotland Debut Prize
which is an impressive achievement.
Phillip Wilson (2023/24 winner)
Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (2023/24 runner up)
Brid Cummings (2021/22 winner)
Jennifer Harvey (2021/22 runner up)
Judith O’Reilly (2021/22 runner up)
Other writers featured in the book include the published crime author Morgan
Cry, as well as Gayle Thompson, Louise Sharland, Ewan A. Dougall, Ben Colley,
Julian Benson, Shona MacBryer, Anna Wallace, Bryce Main and BV Lawson.
Money raised from sales of the anthology book will go to Maggie’s - a cancer
care charity that provides free expert care and support in centres across the
UK and online.
The Last Dram includes grisly tales of murder, retribution and revenge,
as well as the chilling confession of a food blogger who sought vengeance on
her violent husband. There’s also a disillusioned tourist guide on the Isle of
Skye who sends badly behaved tourists to suffer a gruesome fate, a series of
murders set in a Glasgow police station in 1928 which the police have to
unravel, plus many, many more spine-tingling stories.
Kirsty Nicholson, Design and
Marketing Manager at Glencairn Crystal said: “We’ve been blown away by the
outstanding quality of the stories that have been entered into our Glencairn
Glass Crime Short Story Competition over the last few years. We wanted to
showcase these gripping reads for people in a collection to support and
celebrate the talented authors and the world of Scottish crime fiction, whilst
raising money for Maggie’s – a very special charity. A fine dram of whisky in a Glencairn Glass is
the perfect accompaniment to settling down with a good book over the winter
months; ‘The Last Dram’ also provides
the perfect Christmas gift for those friends and relatives who are difficult to
buy for.”
The book is available as both an e-book (priced £5.99) and a limited-edition book in print (£9.99). There is also a special gift pack containing the printed book alongside two Glencairn Glasses (priced £25.99) - the ideal Christmas present for lovers of both whisky and crime fiction! The e-book, print book and gift set with Glencairn Glasses are available via the Glencairn Glass website online shop: Glencairn Anthology.
@bloodyscotland #BloodyScotland
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