Allan Guthrie (born Allan Buchan; 5 June 1965) is a Scottish literary agent, author and editor of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

. He was born in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

, but has lived in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

for most of his adult life. His first novel, '' Two-Way Split'', was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award, and it won the

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in the UK, held every July, as part of the H ...

in 2007. His second novel, '' Kiss Her Goodbye'', was nominated for an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

, an

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Categori ...

, and a

Gumshoe Award The Gumshoe Awards were an American award for popular crime fiction literary works. The Gumshoe Awards were awarded annually by the American Internet magazine ''Mystery Ink'' (not to be confused with Mystery Inc.) to recognize the best achievemen ...

. Guthrie is part of a literary circle that includes

Ken Bruen Ken Bruen (3 January 1951 – 29 March 2025) was an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction. Life and career Education and teaching career Born in Galway on 3 January 1951, he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and la ...

Reed Farrel Coleman Reed Farrel Coleman (born March 29, 1956) is an American writer of crime fiction and a poet. Life and career Reed Farrel Coleman, the youngest of three boys, was born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brighton Beach section of ...

, and

Jason Starr Jason Starr (born November 22, 1966) is an American author, comic book writer, and screenwriter from New York City. Starr has written numerous crime fiction novels and thrillers. Starr's ''Tough Luck'', a novel published in 2003, was a Bar ...

. Guthrie's books are published by Polygon, an imprint of

Birlinn Limited Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew. Imprints Birlinn Limited is composed of a number of imprints, including: *Birlinn, which publishes Sc ...

Digital publishing

On 1 November 2011, Allan Guthrie together with serial entrepreneur Kyle MacRae, launched Blasted Heath, the first digital-only Scottish publisher. All Blasted Heath

ebooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

were free from

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

(DRM) and were supplied in three file formats to ensure compatibility with all then current ebook readers.

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

works on the Kindle,

EPUB EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for ''electronic publication'' and is sometimes stylized as ''ePUB''. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smart ...

with virtually all other readers, including Nook and

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

for computers and smartphones. The opening line-up of Blasted Heath titles included three crime novels by Ray Banks, Douglas Lindsay and Anthony Neil Smith. Also two debut novels, a cyber-thriller by Gary Carson and a novel for film lovers by movie critic Brian Pendreigh, were also available to buy. Blasted Heath closed doors on 20 March 2017.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Two-Way Split'' (2004) *''Kiss Her Goodbye'' (2005) *''Hard Man'' (2007) *''Savage Night'' (2008) *''Slammer'' (2009)

Novellas

*''Kill Clock'' (2007) *''Killing Mum'' (2009) *''Bye Bye Baby'' (2010)

Prizes and awards

*2001 CWA Debut Dagger (nominee): ''Blithe Psychopaths'' (''Two-Way Split'') *2006

Best Paperback Original Award (nominee): ''Kiss Her Goodbye'' *2006

(nominee): ''Kiss Her Goodbye'' *2006 The Mystery Ink

(nominee): ''Kiss Her Goodbye'' *2007

(winner): ''Two-Way Split''

References

External links

Official websiteHow to Publish an Ebook (in 9 Easy-to-Follow Steps)
Official site
Scots Author turns back on print to push ebooks
. The Daily Record, 1 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Allan 1965 births Living people Scottish crime fiction writers People from Orkney Tartan Noir writers