Deep, Dark, Truthful Mirrors: Scots Whay Hae!’s Best Crime Novels Of 2025...
- Alistair Braidwood
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
This year was another corker in terms of crime fiction, which continues to provide readers with some of the most exciting reads around. We have picked ten of the best published in 2025 to give you just a taste of what's happening in Scottish crime fiction right now.
They touch on the historical, the supernatural, whisky, werewolves, Weekenders, familial relations, the corrupting nature of religion, politics, and class, with settings at home and abroad, and so much more.
I was lucky enough to talk to some of the writers whose books feature, and you'll find links to those interviews below, along with links to the novels and where to buy them.
Click on the highlighted book titles to learn more & grab yourself a copy
The darkest of David F. Ross's novels to date, The Weekenders jumps across time and narrators to examine how power, corruption, and lies are intrinsically interwoven. In Glasgow in 1966, former footballer Stevie 'Minto' Milloy is trying to make his mark as a newshound, looking not necessarily to thrive, just survive in an unfamiliar world, one where lines are blurred between heroes and villains. We get to know more about this world, and some of those who exist and profit from it, by going back to the Second World War in Italy where Jamsie Campbell and Michael McTavish realise that cash can come from chaos. Jumping forward to 1969, and Glaswegian court artist 'Doodle' Malpas uncovers a murder which is linked to one Minto investigated three years ago. David F. Ross weaves these three strands together skilfully to portray a Glasgow earning its reputation as 'No Mean City', and its people who are battling for its very soul.
The Weekenders in published with Orenda Books
Allan Gaw's Dr Jack Cuthbert series of novels have been a strong addition to Scottish crime fiction. This is in no small part down to Cuthbert himself, a complex and striking creation who will appeal to fans of Sherlock Holmes, but who is defiantly his own man. However, this is no one-man show. Gaw has created a coterie of characters around Cuthbert who make their own mark. To The Shades Descend is the third in the series and has Jack visiting Glasgow with the aim of interviewing for a job he is unsure he even wants. While there he gets involved with the local law enforcement in a professional capacity as potentially violent protests are held in the city, and that's before the bombs begin to explode. Add to that the rise of fascism, local razor gangs, and a police force who may have corruption at its heart, and near its head, and you have another thrilling case for Dr Jack Cuthbert. These novels may be set in the past, but few historical crime series speak as presciently to the present day.
To The Shades Descend is published with Polygon
James Yorkston's Tommy The Bruce is one of the most distinctive and singular novels of the year. It can be described as crime, but it's more about the drama of everyday lives - you could say it's part James Kelman, part Chris Brookmyre. Tommy Bruce owns, and just about runs, a tumbledown hotel in the Perthshire countryside. His life is one of uneventful routine, managing to survive between opening and closing time, when he can then drink himself to sleep. It's an existence more than a life. Then Fiona McLean arrives from the past and into his present, giving Tommy hopes and even a dream for the first time in years. However, Fiona's motives have to be questioned. Is any of this for the good for Tommy, or simply for herself? As her appearance then brings unwelcome others into Tommy's life, and with them accompanying dangers, he has to confront his worst fears - although he couldn't envisage what is about to unfold. Darkly comic, tender, and thrilling, in Tommy The Bruce James Yorkston has created an anti-hero for our times.
Tommy The Bruce is publshed with Oldcastle Books
The Malt Whisky Murders is reminiscent of the work of another writer with a love and knowledge of whisky, one Iain Banks (the book’s epigraphs include a quote from Banks’ own ode to the drink, Raw Spirit). The comparison comes from the style and structure as much as the content, with two separate stories unfolding across the years and over alternating chapters - those of Eilidh and the mysterious and enigmatic ‘You’, and, although there is a fantastic cast of supporting characters, everything is driven by these two. As their stories move closer the tension builds to a conclusion which I can’t even hint at for fear of spoilers. But while the thrills and literal spills are ramped up, a love for the drink, and fascination with the industry, shines through. I’m really looking forward to what Natalie Jayne Clark does next in terms of writing, but can’t shake the feeling that there may also be a few drams with her name on it.
The Malt Whisky Murders is published with Polygon
The Howling is the third in Michael J. Malone's Annie Jackson mysteries. Bringing together a number of genres, these are gothic horror thrillers which also look at institutional corruption and criminal activity. Annie Jackson foresees people's imminent deaths, leading her to retreat from the world in an attempt to keep her 'murmurs' quiet. But when a boy goes missing Annie is convinced to investigate once again which leads her, her brother Lewis, and their motley crew of associates into terrible danger. And that's before things get truly hairy. These books tap into Scottish folklore, fables, myths and legends, but brings them right up to date. The Howling takes what the previous Annie Jackson mysteries The Murmurs and The Torments began, and builds upon it beautifully. If there is a more thoroughly thrilling and wildly entertaining series on the go at the moment, I can't think of it.
The Howling is published with Orenda Books
Francine Toon's debut Pine was a notable success, winning the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2020. In 2025 the eagerly-awaited follow up Bluff arrived, and it was well worth the wait. The story unfolds with two narrators telling their tales ten years apart. In 2013 Joanie has her future set out, looking to leave the seaside town of St Rule for a life abroad, and head-over-heels in love. One night changes everything, and with her dreams shattered Joanie makes new, and troubling, alliances. In 2023 Cameron returns to St Rule, with one question he wants answered "whatever happened to Joanie?", but his enquiries are not only rebuffed, but actively thwarted by former friends and classmates. Should certain secrets remain intact? And can you, (and should you), ever go back? Bluff looks at loss of innocence, the tricks memory can play, the guilt at having left people behind, and is one of the most relatable novels of the year.
Bluff is published with Doubleday
One of the most inventive and literary crime novels of the year, or in many a year, Liam McIlvanney's The Good Father is a triumph in almost every way you would care to consider. Clearly a personal undertaking (there are a number of parallels with the writer's own life), it's as much a treatise on grief and guilt as it is a thriller (although it is definitely that). Gordon and Sarah Rutherford's son disappears from the beach of their quiet and supposedly safe seaside town, and they are left to reflect and try and move on as time goes by with no answers or news, having to deal with their own thoughts and theories, and those of others. The Good Father asks readers to confront their own greatest fears in a manner which engenders great empathy. It is written beautifully, with heart and humanity. Is it the best book of the year? It's certainly in that conversation.
The Good Father is published with Zaffre
Following on from his acclaimed McIlvanney Prize winning debut novel Squeaky Clean, Calum McSorley’s Paperboy proves that it was no fluke. Paperboy is the most fun I’ve had with a book in a while. It takes the world of Squeaky Clean and builds on it to move everything to another level. It’s rare for a writer to make me laugh out loud, but McSorley manages to again and again. Every now and then you read a novel which you connect with on a personal level, and that was the case for me with Paperboy. I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same reaction, but I think you might. I could say ‘if you like Christopher Brookmyre/Denise Mina/Alan Parks/insert-your-favourite-crime-writer-here, then you’ll love Paperboy’, and you will, but if you simply enjoy reading for sheer pleasure then this is a novel for you.
Paperboy is published with Pushkin Vertigo
A new novel from Denise Mina is always welcome, in no small part as you are never sure as to what form it will take, or substance it will have. Recent years have seen the publication of Rizzio (Mina's entry in Polygon Books' Darkland Tales Series), her Philip Marlowe novel The Second Murderer, and the historical investigation The Three Fires, among others. The Good Liar has two timelines, one set over days, weeks and months, the other over minutes and even seconds. In both we meet blood spatter expert Dr Claudia O'Sheil who is asked to give evidence in a infamous murder investigation. As she gets ready to make one of the most important speeches of her life she reflects on the past year, and details of that investigation and her part in it, to decide what action she should take. There are always layers to Denise Mina's writing, and The Good Liar is no different, this time looking at the hegemony of the ruling classes and the accompanying corruption, all the while keeping us hooked with a cracking whodunnit. Thoughtful and thrilling (with complex and carefully considered characters), you couldn't ask for much more.
The Good Liar is published with Harvill Seeker
When a writer introduces you to an aspect of Scottish life and culture you know little (or nothing) about, that is to be treasured, which is what Foday Mannah's The Search For Othella Savage does in terms of the Sierra Leonean community in Scotland. Student Hawa Barrie is on the fringes of this community in Edinburgh. At its centre is the Lion Mountain Church, led by the charismatic yet questionable Pastor Ranka whose hold over his flock is cult-like. Hawa's friend Othellla Savage (who is a church member) has gone missing and Hawa's investigation into her disappearance leads her back to Sierra Leone, and into increasing danger. Inspired by a real case, The Search For Othella Savage examines abuse of power - particularly religious and political - in a manner which is all too recognisable. This is a cracking debut from Foday Mannah, and it's exciting to consider what comes next.
The Search For Othella Savage is published with Quercus