2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize (shortlist)
2026 McDermid Debut Award (shortlist)
2026 McIlvanney Prize (longlist)
Don't miss the award-winning crime debut of the year - perfect for fans of The List of Suspicious Things. A murder mystery unlike any other...
*WINNER OF THE VAL McDERMID CRIME DEBUT AWARD*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BLOODY SCOTLAND DEBUT PRIZE*
'Clever, honest, heart-rending.' VAL MCDERMID
'Richly authentic, funny, moving and insightful.' JANICE HALLETT
'I haven’t read anything quite as unique as this since Trainspotting.' LIN ANDERSON
'A Bad, Bad Place will stay with me for a long, long time' JENNIE GODFREY
What happened to the dog walker who found the body?
Glasgow, 1979.
Twelve-year-old Janey won’t take her dog, Sid Vicious, for a walk. Not anymore. It’s Sid’s fault she found the murdered woman.
Janey claims she can’t remember what she saw at the abandoned railway, but the police think she’s hiding something. And they’re not the only ones interested.
Fear and rumour rip through the tight-knit community of Possilpark. Janey and her nana, Maggie, are dragged into the hunt for a murderer. And Maggie’s struggle to keep her beloved granddaughter safe becomes ever more desperate.
Because Janey’s memories can’t stay hidden forever.
And neither can the killer…
Readers love A Bad, Bad Place:
'Lingers long after the final page' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I loved every page!' ⭐ ⭐ '' ⭐ ⭐
'Got under my skin in a way I didn't expect' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Absolutely brilliant, funny, full of life, completely convincing' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Brilliant' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Stunning' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Scottish writing at its finest' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Genre: Mystery
*WINNER OF THE VAL McDERMID CRIME DEBUT AWARD*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BLOODY SCOTLAND DEBUT PRIZE*
'Clever, honest, heart-rending.' VAL MCDERMID
'Richly authentic, funny, moving and insightful.' JANICE HALLETT
'I haven’t read anything quite as unique as this since Trainspotting.' LIN ANDERSON
'A Bad, Bad Place will stay with me for a long, long time' JENNIE GODFREY
What happened to the dog walker who found the body?
Glasgow, 1979.
Twelve-year-old Janey won’t take her dog, Sid Vicious, for a walk. Not anymore. It’s Sid’s fault she found the murdered woman.
Janey claims she can’t remember what she saw at the abandoned railway, but the police think she’s hiding something. And they’re not the only ones interested.
Fear and rumour rip through the tight-knit community of Possilpark. Janey and her nana, Maggie, are dragged into the hunt for a murderer. And Maggie’s struggle to keep her beloved granddaughter safe becomes ever more desperate.
Because Janey’s memories can’t stay hidden forever.
And neither can the killer…
Readers love A Bad, Bad Place:
'Lingers long after the final page' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I loved every page!' ⭐ ⭐ '' ⭐ ⭐
'Got under my skin in a way I didn't expect' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Absolutely brilliant, funny, full of life, completely convincing' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Brilliant' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Stunning' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Scottish writing at its finest' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Gripping, gruesome, and so gritty you can smell it. A visceral and exciting debut." - Belinda Bauer
"A Bad, Bad Place is a great, great book - my favorite kind, in fact: the kind that illuminates the dark of the past by laying a bonfire of a story at its heart. Frances Crawford, the preternaturally gifted author of this magical new novel, works bright magic here; very rarely have I felt so transported by a story, or so enmeshed in a community of characters, bound by love and fear and language. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part Louise Welsh, yet altogether incomparable." - A J Finn
"The very best writing can transport you through time and place - well, A Bad, Bad Place took me to Glasgow, to 1979 and to a young girl who discovers a brutal murder, the repercussions of which resound across a troubled community. It's hard to believe this richly authentic, funny, moving, and insightful story, beautifully written in local dialect, is actually a debut. Bravo, Frances Crawford!" - Janice Hallett
"A moving evocation of working-class lives. It's clever, honest, heart-rending, and funny too. It doesn't shy away from the darkness but it also reveals the love and compassion that sustain people. And it's wonderfully twisty too, giving our assumptions a good shake-up." - Val McDermid
"A Bad, Bad Place is a great, great book - my favorite kind, in fact: the kind that illuminates the dark of the past by laying a bonfire of a story at its heart. Frances Crawford, the preternaturally gifted author of this magical new novel, works bright magic here; very rarely have I felt so transported by a story, or so enmeshed in a community of characters, bound by love and fear and language. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part Louise Welsh, yet altogether incomparable." - A J Finn
"The very best writing can transport you through time and place - well, A Bad, Bad Place took me to Glasgow, to 1979 and to a young girl who discovers a brutal murder, the repercussions of which resound across a troubled community. It's hard to believe this richly authentic, funny, moving, and insightful story, beautifully written in local dialect, is actually a debut. Bravo, Frances Crawford!" - Janice Hallett
"A moving evocation of working-class lives. It's clever, honest, heart-rending, and funny too. It doesn't shy away from the darkness but it also reveals the love and compassion that sustain people. And it's wonderfully twisty too, giving our assumptions a good shake-up." - Val McDermid
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