I won’t take up too much of your time, I just wanted to share a few words about the year along with some of my favourite reads and some sneaky recs for 2025.

The paperback of Squeaky Clean was launched way back in January and was Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month, which was incredible! It also published in the US in the summer, receiving a wonderful review in the Wall Street Journal (“With its wit, terror, guts and gumption, Mr. McSorley’s first novel is a smash.”), and capped off 2024 by being selected as one of the best 50 paperbacks (25 fiction) of the year by The Times and Sunday Times.

This year Squeaky Clean took me to book festivals in Aberdeen, Helensburgh, and Bute, plus events in Glasgow and Perth, and I spent a couple of glorious weeks in Cove Park on the Loch Long Crime Writer’s Residency. It’s been a beezer.

And through all that I managed to do some reading too. Here are my favourites published this year:

• Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey
• Ascension by Nicholas Binge
• The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre
• On Melting by Chris Kelso
• The Hotel Hokusai by T.Y. Garner
• Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir by Rodge Glass
• Deliver Me by Elle Nash
• Bootleg Karma by John Tinney

March 2025 will see the publication of my second book, PAPERBOY — Ally McCoist returns. More trouble, more mayhem. I’ve been privileged to get an early look at some other titles coming out around that time too, so here are some to look out for next year:

• The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani
• Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse
• When Shadows Fall by Neil Lancaster
• Hermit by Chris McQueer
• An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris
• The Weekenders by David F. Ross

Here’s to you! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!