If you happen to be visiting the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (now that lockdown restrictions have started to ease), you might spot a familiar face adorning the walls.

That’s right — I’m pictured, along with several Scottish crime fiction luminaries, in David Eustace’s “Portrait of Crime Writers”. As one of the nominees for the 2019 McIlvanney Prize (my first novel, In the Silence, was both shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and longlisted for the main McIlvanney Prize), I was photographed alongside Claire Askew, Neil Broadfoot, Christopher Brookmyre & Marisa Haetzman (a.k.a. Ambrose Parry), Doug Johnstone, Denise Mina, Manda Scott and Douglas Skelton — a true honour to be in the company of such giants of the genre.

I think you’ll agree we all look mighty serious — and impressively colour-coded too!