![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758606851_52_w=1024.jpeg\")
Tariq Ashkanani Winner McIlvanney Prize Copyright: Mike Day \/ Saltire News and Sport Ltd <\/p>\nEdinburgh solicitor Tariq Ashkanani has been named winner of the McIlvanney Prize for Scotland\u2019s crime fiction book of 2025 \u2013 and he revealed he owes his writing success to American actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n
Ashkanani won the prize for his dark thriller The Midnight King. He received the award on stage in the ballroom of the Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling at the annual Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival.<\/p>\n
The solicitor, writer and podcaster made history as the first author to win the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and then go on to win Scotland\u2019s most prestigious award for crime fiction.<\/p>\n
He beat four other shortlisted authors including Sir Ian Rankin and previous winners Denise Mina, Callum McSorley and Liam McIlvanney.<\/p>\n
Ashkanani said winning was \u201chard to put into words \u2014 it\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he insisted he would not have been an author without inspiration from bodybuilder turned Hollywood actor and politician Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI owe my entire writing career to Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was reading his book on the train when I was writing my first book.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was his autobiography and his whole schtick was \u2018I came from nothing and I made myself something, I reinvented myself and I was a bodybuilder and an actor and a politician\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis message was \u2018if you want to do something and it\u2019s important to you, just find time and do it\u2019. I realised if I wanted to make a career of writing at all I just needed to find the time and do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Arnie, thanks very much.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tariq Ashkanani Winner McIlvanney Prize Copyright: Mike Day \/ Saltire News and Sport Ltd <\/p>\n
The prize, which recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, is dedicated to the late William McIlvanney, dubbed the godfather of the Tartan Noir genre of Scottish crime fiction.<\/p>\n
It includes a large Glencairn Crystal Decanter, \u00a31000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.<\/p>\n
As winner, Ashkanani led the festival\u2019s colourful \u201cDay of the Deid\u201d procession in Stirling city centre.<\/p>\n
Ashkanani has enjoyed a meteoric rise as a crime writer.<\/p>\n
He first appeared at Bloody Scotland in 2021 as a support act for Sir Ian Rankin in the festival\u2019s Crime in the Spotlight slot.<\/p>\n
He won the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize in 2022 for his first novel Welcome to Cooper, before going on to win the McIlvanney Prize just three years later.<\/p>\n
Ashkanani said winning was validation of his efforts, which often involve isolating himself to write. But he said had received valuable support from his fellow Scottish writers.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have the validation that you\u2019re doing a good job. When you\u2019re writing a book you\u2019re by yourself so much and you\u2019re in your own head so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it is nice to be reminded that you\u2019re doing something that\u2019s good and it\u2019s working well.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe crime writing community in Scotland is phenomenal and everyone is super supportive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m quite new on the scene but I\u2019ve never felt anything other than supported and lifted up by everyone else. It feels like everyone wants everyone to do well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Midnight King is a thriller about the son of a serial killer who returns home for his father\u2019s funeral. The father, a celebrated author, has left behind a manuscript which forms a fictionalised confession and a box filled with mementos from each of the children he has killed. One may still be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arusa Quereshi, one of the judges, said: \u201cThe Midnight King is a dark and utterly unsettling read with victims and crimes that stay with you long after you turn the last page.<\/p>\n
\u201cTariq Ashkanani did a brilliant job creating an atmosphere of dread while exploring the theme of nature vs nurture.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Goodman was named as the winner of the 2025 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize for his book A Reluctant Spy.<\/p>\n
Goodman, from East Lothian, was also previously selected for Crime in the Spotlight, appearing last year as a support for thriller writer Frank Gardner. <\/p>\n
TV rights to Goodman\u2019s thriller about a successful Scottish sales exec who finds himself pitched into a deadly mission in hostile territory in Tanzania have been sold in an eight-way auction to Carnival Films (Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom, Day of the Jackal).<\/p>\n
Kirsty Nicholson, of the awards\u2019 sponsor Glencairn Crystal, said: \u201cA huge congratulations to Tariq Ashkanani on winning the McIlvanney Prize with his page-turning thriller The Midnight King, and to David Goodman on receiving the Debut Prize for his gripping first novel A Reluctant Spy. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a Scottish family company, we are proud to sponsor these distinguished annual awards with the Glencairn Glass, the official glass for whisky \u2014 both of which are deeply rooted in Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an honour to help celebrate and shine a spotlight on such exceptional authors in the wonderful world of crime fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758606852_470_w=1024.jpeg\")
Tariq Ashkanani Winner McIlvanney Prize 2025
Copyright pic: Mike Day \/ Saltire News and Sport Ltd <\/p>\n