PAPERBOY OUT NOW!

Today is finally the day! My new novel PAPERBOY is officially released into the world.

A sequel to my debut crime thriller SQUEAKY CLEAN (2023), it once again sees luckless and disliked detective Alison ‘Ally’ McCoist get herself embroiled in the murders and machinations of the Glasgow underworld.

This time Chuck Gardner is along for the ride. Chuck runs his own confidential paper shredding business. Gambling debts owed to dangerous and impatient people mean Chuck has been selling on private information to keep his thumbs. One particular document, though, is about to make things so much worse.

I cannot wait for people to get hold of it!

Already, Paperboy has garnered some acclaim from authors (“Energetic, inventive and witty, laying on the tension as it builds to a nerve-shredding finale” — Chris Brookmyre / “The most fun you can have at a crime scene” — Alan Bissett) and was chosen as The Times Crime Book of the Month for March (“A brilliant black comedy that repeatedly makes you squirm”) so I’m really looking forward to seeing what readers think of it.

I want to say a huge thanks to my publisher Pushkin Vertigo. Daniel, Steven, Rima, Tom, India and the team have been incredible. Kid-ethic has produced yet another excellent cover which I love, and sharp eyed copy-editor Alex Middleton helped make the book the best it can be.

(The full speech — friends, family, God, etc. — can be found at the end of the book but I’d also like to use this post to thank my wonderful agent Emily MacDonald for everything she does. Her former colleague Marilia Savvides helped out on this one too and I owe her a big thanks also.)

I’ll be celebrating the launch today by chatting with Len Pennie on The Arts Mix this afternoon (BBC Radio Scotland, 3.30pm) then heading to Waterstones Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow (7pm) to chat with Cailean Steed and smash the the bottle of champagne to mark the official launch.

From there, this month and the next will see me out and about signing books, doing readings, going to festivals, having chats, and kissing babies. Hopefully see you out there!