Allan Guthrie
Allan Guthrie was born in Orkney, but has lived in Edinburgh for most of his adult life. He is married to Donna. He has published four novels, plus a novella for emergent adult readers. Two-Way Split, his debut novel, won the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (’07), and he is also the winner of the Spinetingler award (’08) for Hard Man. His books have been shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger, the Anthony, the MWA Edgar, the Gumshoe, and the Last Laugh awards. Allan is webmaster/editor of Noir Originals and commissioning editor for PointBlank Press.
“an immensely skilful writer” The Independent
“a witty and inventive stylist” Washington Post
Books by Allan Guthrie
Savage Night
Andy Park’s teenage son is in mortal danger, his daughter and her fiancé are cutting up corpses, and Old Mrs Yardie’s country cottage has been requisitioned for the purposes of kidnapping an erstwhile tobacco smuggler.
And yet Park’s world is a bed of roses in comparison to Tommy Savage’s. Savage is being blackmailed by a masked man known only as Mr Smith – for what, he has no idea. A near-fatal accident in an abandoned apartment results in Tommy and his brother, Phil, heading to a graveyard with only a couple of swords and a bag of cash for company.
Will they survive the night? Will anyone?
“if you have a robust sense of humour, you’ll love this.”
The Observer
“scintillating ... Guthrie is the best noir writer in the country at the moment.”
The Scotsman
UK Publication Date: March 2008
World Rights: Polygon
US: Harcourt Brace
Italy: Einaudi
Germany: Rotbuch Verlag
Denmark: Forlaget Bagland
Kill Clock
The kill clock is ticking…
Pearce’s ex-girlfriend is back.
She needs twenty grand before midnight.
Or she’s dead.
She doesn’t have the money.
Nor does Pearce.
And time’s running out. Fast.
Kill Clock is a novella for emergent adult readers.
“the simplicity of the text is pure fire” Somebody Dies
“dark humor, sharp dialog, good action and an explosive finale” Mystery Bookspot
UK Publication Date: Sept 2007
World Rights: Barrington Stoke
Audio: W.F.Howes
Hard Man
Winner of the Spinetingler award, 2008, and nominated for the Last Laugh award.
Has Pearce finally found his match?
Pearce, a time-served Edinburgh hard man who’s still recovering from the recent loss of his mother in a stabbing incident in a post office robbery, is invited by the dysfunctional Baxter family to protect their pregnant 16-year-old daughter from Wallace, her 26-year-old, martial arts expert husband, a man with a penchant for killing family pets. Having found out that the baby’s not his, Wallace has sworn vengeance. Pearce declines the job: he’s no babysitter. But when Wallace kills Pearce’s dog, he goes too far. Now it’s personal. Time to find out how many psychedelic drugs one man can take. Time to find out why Jesus is living in a cage in Wallace’s basement. Time to find out who the real hard man is.
“If this novel had emerged from a high school creative writing class its young author would now be under heavily guarded psychiatric care.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“possibly the most extraordinary white-knuckle ride of violent chaos and deathly dark humour ... I have ever come across”
The Herald
UK Publication Date: April 2007
World Rights: Polygon
US: Harcourt Brace
Italy: Einaudi
Germany: Rotbuch Verlag
Kiss Her Goodbye
Nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award and a Gumshoe Award.
Another slice of twisted, darkly comic noir from a startling new voice in crime.
When people in Edinburgh want to borrow money, they go to Cooper. When they don’t pay it back, they get a visit from Joe Hope. But now Joe’s got problems of his own. His teenage daughter is found dead, an apparent suicide. Then the police arrest him for murder. But for once in his life Joe’s innocent—and with help from Scotland’s hardest men (and one of Scotland’s hardest women), he sets out to find the person who framed him and deliver his own brutal brand of justice.
“A virtual classic” The Scotsman
“a minor noir classic” Crime Time
UK Publication Date: April 2006
UK, Commonwealth and Translation Rights: Polygon
US: Hard Case Crime
Italy: Einaudi
Germany: Rotbuch Verlag
France: Editions du Masque
Finland: Arctic Banana
67,000 words
Two-Way Split
A lean and muscular crime caper with a seriously twisted dark side. Winner of the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year, 2007.
Robin Greaves is an armed robber whose professionalism is put to the test when he discovers his wife has been sleeping with a fellow gang-member. Robin plans the ultimate revenge, but things go from bad to worse when the gang bungles a post office robbery, leaving carnage in their wake. Suddenly they are stalked by the police, sleazy private eyes and a cold-blooded killer who may be the only one not looking for a cut of the money.
‘With razor-sharp characterisation and an evocative sense of place, the novel’s pace never relents: the supremely damaged characters that Guthrie conjures up are seldom let off the hook, and stew throughout in their fetid juices. Dark and splendid’
The Guardian
“easily the match for any of the modern American masters of the noir genre”
The Big Issue
UK Publication Date: August 2005
UK, Commonwealth and Translation Rights: Polygon
US: PointBlank
Italy: Einaudi
Spain: Ediciones Pamies
Germany: Rotbuch Verlag
France: Editions du Masque
Turkey: Kirmizi Kedi
Film option: Plum Films
63,000 words