Craig Russell's novels have been published in twenty-five languages, five have been made into major films in Germany, in one of which he has a cameo role as a detective. He has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, is the only author to have won the McIlvanney Prize twice, and has previously been shortlisted for the CWA Golden Dagger, the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, and the SNCF Prix Polar in France. He is also the only non-German to have been awarded the Polizeistern - the Hamburg Police's Police Star.