Bloody Scotland Newsletter Six Weeks to Go

Hello! Can you believe it's only six weeks now until we return to beautiful Stirling to celebrate the very best of crime fiction? Excitement levels are hitting fever pitch here at Bloody Scotland HQ. To help us  countdown the days and prepare for our beloved festival, we're switching over to weekly newsletters. 

In this edition we've got an exciting announcement about a brand new digital event on offer. We'll also be announcing the winners of our book giveaway and advising you on ways in which you can travel sustainably to Bloody Scotland this year. 

First Time Visitors to Scotland.

Our Guest Programmer, Denise Mina with this year's programme.

At Bloody Scotland, we're committed to programming the best crime fiction events possible for you every year, and that includes authors who haven't visited the festival previously. This year our team and Guest Programmer, Denise Mina, have invited 50 authors who are completely new to Bloody Scotland: including: AE Goldin, Foluso Agbaje, Kristen Perrin, Edel Coffey, Michael Wood, Andi Osho and Ørjan Karlsson. 

We hope you'll join us in giving them a very warm welcome to Stirling.

Stop Press!
Dept Q Available to Watch Digitally

We are absolutely thrilled to tell you that our Dept Q event will now be available to watch digitally! If you can't make it along to Stirling to see the stellar cast of the hit Netflix series storm the Albert Halls stage, you'll now be able to do it from the comfort of your home instead. 

Joining us will be showrunner Scott Frank and stars Matthew Goode (DCI Carl Morck), Kate Dickie (Chief Superintendent Moira Jacobson), Alexej Manvelov (Akram Salim) and Leah Byrne (DC Rose Dickson) . Together, they will discuss how the show has achieved such cult status amongst fans and reveal behind-the-scenes secrets as they take a break from filming Series 2. This is definitely not to be missed!

All of Bloody Scotland's Digital Events are available to watch live as they happen and then also on catch up until the end of September 2026. You can purchase a digital pass to watch all 17 events for £60.75 or purchase digital events singly for £6.75 each.

To view all of our Digital Events, visit:
https://bloodyscotland.com/whats-on/
and search for the term 'online' in the search box.

To give you a flavour of our other offerings, we've picked out three of our favourite 2026 online events below. 

Denise Mina presents Lee Child (online)

Streamed live on 18th of September at 6.45pm
 and available on catch up until the 30th of September.

Just because the in-person event for Lee Child is sold out, doesn't mean you can't get your Reacher fix!

We welcome back a legend of the genre and the creator of possibly the most iconic protagonist in thriller fiction. Lee Child has many imitators, but he and Jack Reacher remain the gold standard to which they all aspire. Travelling with just the clothes on his back and a toothbrush, Reacher is a hero for the ages.

Over the course of 30 pulsating novels, Lee has sold an incredible 100 million books which have been adapted into two movies starring Tom Cruise and a hit TV series. He will look back on an extraordinary career with guest programmer Denise Mina.

Denise Mina Presents Lee Chiild (online)

In Conversation: Chris Brookmyre & Abir Mukherjee (Online)

Streamed live on Friday 18th September - 1.30pm
and available on catch up until the 30th of September.

Grab your ticket for an unmissable hour in the company of two of Scotland’s finest crime writers.

It is 30 years since crime fiction’s most infamous mantlepiece featured in Chris Brookmyre’s debut novel Quite Ugly One Morning. Now, three
decades later his irrepressible investigative journalist Jack Parlabane
returns in the ingenious Quite Ugly One Evening. Abir Mukherjee follows his award-winning bestseller Hunted with the equally action-packed and thought-provoking thriller The Pinnacle which sees murder strike on the 65th floor of Mumbai’s grandest luxury skyscraper. Chris and Abir will be chaired by broadcaster Nicola Meighan.

Chris Brookmyre & Abir Mukherjee (Online)

Denise Mina presents Jane Harper
& Jane Casey (online)

Streamed live on Saturday 19th September - 3.00pm
and available on catch up until the 30th of September.

It’s a case of Double Jane-pardy (sorry!) as two fabulous storytellers
from opposite ends of the world get together to discuss their work.

Jane Harper is the queen of rural Australian noir and an international
bestseller. Her global smash The Dry was made into a major movie. Jane’s new novel, Last One Out, is a deeply atmospheric small town mystery.  Jane Casey is a number one bestseller but Everything She Didn’t Say is her first book set in her native Ireland. It’s a riveting mystery about female friendship, betrayal and survival. Jane and Jane will be interviewed by Denise Mina.

Book Jane Harper & Jane Casey (0nline)

Announcing the Winners of our
The Hollow Boys Giveaway

We're delighted to announce the winners of our recent book giveaway to win a copy of Tariq Ashkanani's thrilling book The Hollow Boys. Congratulations to: Lesley Mcauliffe, Mary Macdonald, Amanda Newall, Periklis Theologidis and Ken Mounser. Happy reading! 

Bloody Scotland 2026 Whisky

We wanted to do something special to mark our 2026 festival and thankfully our pals at Fib Whisky had just the thing in mind. Fib has created the official dram for this year's Bloody Scotland for the second year running, with a limited edition bottling created especially for us. Drawn from a single Oloroso sherry barrique and bottled at natural cask strength, this whisky is completely unfiltered - just as nature intended.

There are only 100 bottles to be had - so if you'd like some, you'd better quick. 

Find out more about our Bloody Scotland whisky and pre-order your bottle below.
 Over 18s only. Please drink responsibly. 

Bloody Scotland 2026 Whisky

Go Green for Bloody Scotland,

This year at Bloody Scotland, we're asking our festival goers to paint the town green instead of our usual red! Bloody Scotland is committed to being part of a greener arts sector, and we'd love it if you could help us by getting to the festival using a sustainable form of travel.

All of our venues are 10 minutes walk or less from Stirling's railway and bus stations, so why not leave the car at home and travel sustainably instead? Stirling is only 35 minutes from Glasgow and 50 minutes from Edinburgh by train. Train operator Lumo has also now launched a direct London Euston to Stirling service. You can find out more information about the service over at: lumo.co.uk

That's all from us this issue. See you back here next week.
For more information about Bloody Scotland and to view our upcoming events, visit: www.bloodyscotland.com