As a passionate advocate of lifelong learning, Frances Crawford graduated in 2022, age 60, with MLitt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from Glasgow University. In 2023, she won the Bloody Scotland/Glencairn Crime Short Story Competition, and the first chapters of her debut novel A Bad, Bad Place won Highly Commended in the Moniack Mhor Emerging Writer Award 2024.
A Bad, Bad Place was published by Transworld in February 2026, and has since won the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier McDermid Debut Award at Harrogate Festival, and was shortlisted for the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize.
