May Rinaldi

Update on the update - Long-listed for the McIlvannie prize at Bloody Scotland 2026

Update - Liar Thief is shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Book Prize 2026.

May Rinaldi is a crime writer from the South-West of Scotland where she lives with her Norwegian husband.

Her debut novel Liar Thief won the Black Spring Press Crime Novel 2023 and was published on 2nd December 2025. This is a psychological thriller unlike anything you've read before. A protagonist, whose voice buries itself into your subconscious and refuses to leave. Emotional, darkly propulsive plot, and a unique storytelling format, means this is a book that will be talked about for a long, long time.

She recently retired from her consultancy job in Health and Safety and, in the past, has worked as a taxidermist, mycologist and lab technician, all useful in crime writing – not only can her protagonist poison her victims, she can turn them into an interesting, mounted specimen afterwards.

She is the co-founder of Moffat Crime Fest, bringing top crime authors to the Dumfries and Galloway town of Moffat. She also runs writing retreats in her secluded home where visiting authors are only disturbed by sheep, cows and the dinner gong.

She spends her spare time travelling between Scotland, Norway and Gozo, and uses her travels as settings for her books. She is currently working on a Gozo trilogy; the Mediterranean island is as much one of the characters as the people who inhabit it.