Graeme Macrae Burnet
Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock and now lives in Glasgow. He is the author of five novels and a novella. His novels are His Bloody Project, Case Study and the French-set Gorski trilogy, the final part of which A Case of Matricide was published in October 2024. His novella Benbecula was published in October 2025 in Polygon’s Darklands series. The Guardian called it ‘intense and utterly compelling.’
His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize, the LA Times Mystery Book of the Year and the European Crime Fiction prize and won the Saltire Prize for Fiction. It was variously described as ‘astonishing’, ‘fiendishly readable’ and ‘spellbinding’. Case Study was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and included in the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2022. Hannah Kent called it ‘a novel of mind-bending brilliance.’ The Financial Times declared A Case of Matricide ‘a triumph’. It won the Australian Crime Writers Best International Crime award.
Graeme’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages, and he has appeared at festivals all over the world.
A Case of Matricide (paperback)
‘A Case of Matricide demonstrates literary talent of the highest order … few writers can rival Burnet.’ The Spectator
Chief Inspector Gorski returns …
In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s hostelries, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski ponders the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons.
Graeme Macrae Burnet once again pierces the respectable bourgeois façade of small-town life in this, the concluding part of his trilogy of Gorski novels. He injects a wry humour into the tiniest of details and delves into the darkest recesses of his characters’ minds, but above all provides an entertaining, profound and moving read.
REVIEWS OF A Case of Matricide (paperback)
'Blasé chief inspector Gorski, of Saint-Louis, France, embarks on a bungled relationship and tangles with a novelist whose mother is afraid he’s going to kill her in this marvelously meta mystery from Booker-nominated Graeme Macrae Burnet.' Vanity Fair
‘It’s smart, quirky and fun.’ LA Times
‘[A Case of Matricide] serves up a tantalizing blend of psychological thrills and small-town life in Saint-Louis, France… the novel delivers a convincing depiction of bureaucratic and provincial rot. Fans of the series will be pleased.’ Publishers Weekly
‘A Case of Matricide is a work of fine artistry; craftsmanship too … The atmosphere of the unremarkable and gloomy town is beautifully evoked … [Burnet is] a master of artifice.’ The Scotsman
'A Case of Matricide is a deeply imagined and perfectly realised novel, and reading it is a dizzyingly immersive experience. Macrae Burnet’s Gorski novels were already a significant achievement, but the concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction. For anyone looking for genuinely ambitious crime fiction, this book is a gift.’ Martin MacInnes, author of In Ascension
‘A very literary novel. Not only for the crisp prose it is written in, but also for the many literary allusions ¬within its pages … Burnet shows real mastery of his material, and it’s no ¬wonder his second novel, His Bloody ¬Project, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016. This new offering is dark, but playful … a pleasing, if ¬disturbing doll’s house.’ Irish Independent
‘There are few better at painting a picture of an individual … confirms Graeme Macrae Burnet as a writer of style and substance. These are novels to treasure.’ SNACK magazine
‘This final book in a trilogy is a triumph for Burnet; who needs the Man Booker Prize?’ Financial Times
‘An artistic and critical triumph. His books engross as much as they tease, setting up questions about authorship and artifice, but never at the expense of a compelling narrative.’ The Herald
‘Wickedly funny … slyly playful … owes as much of a debt to Albert Camus as it does to Georges Simenon.'
‘Burnet plays metafictional games, but the book pulls off the rare double of being emotionally involving as well as teasingly tricksy.’ Telegraph, Best Crime and Thrillers Autumn 2024
‘A Case of Matricide demonstrates literary talent of the highest order … few writers can rival Burnet.’ The Spectator
‘This quirky blend of psychological thriller and smalltown life is both thought-provoking and entirely convincing.’ The Guardian
‘A rewardingly tricksy novel full of literary games and misdirections … enthralling plot strands … compelling.’ The Times
