A rainbow, earlier today.

‘A Leaf’ (published by Nine Pens)

The Goldenacre - ‘A first class thriller’ (The Times) Winner of the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel. birlinn.co.uk/product/the-...

TS Eliot to Virginia Woolf: ‘…. it is one kind of agony while you are writing, and another kind when you aren’t.’ Indeed. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘Blame Yourself’, a collection of poetry, is published by Nine Pens. ninepens.co.uk/2022-poets/p...

NPR’s ‘The Diary of Lies' review: Philip Miller's thriller about a dogged reporter www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...

Looking forward to talking about my books at Kirkcudbright Book Festival on Friday. Come along…

Kirkcudbright Book Festival 2026 5–8 March Kirkcudbright Book Festival celebrates local & national voices, local history, Scottish culture, children’s authors, crime fiction, nature & the environment & much more – full programme online now www.kbtbookfestival.org/full-programme

Love Song, a poem published last year.

I’m an Ambassador for this brilliant charity, Bookbanks, giving away books with food parcels at food banks. There are two part-time jobs going for Regional Leads in London and East Anglia. Link below. Please share far and wide :)

My second book, out of print in the UK…but takes in the afterlife, the cosmos, the rise of fascism, a boy and his dog, and the fate of newspapers….

We've lost the great Allan Massie. An absolute giant of Scottish literature and journalism, and an inspirational, kind and generous man, too. I think his son @alexmassie.bsky.social is only sporadically on Bluesky, but he has written a beautiful obituary. alexmassie.substack.com/p/allan-mass...

‘When Shona finally discovers the masterplan, it's a social policy so cruel and retrograde that, 10 years ago, I would have laughed at its hyperbolic preposterousness. It says something about our historical moment that the scheme no longer seems laughable.’ www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...

Grendel over Victoria Park.

There’s not going to be another Boards of Canada album is there.

‘When Shona finally discovers the masterplan, it's a social policy so cruel and retrograde that, 10 years ago, I would have laughed at its hyperbolic preposterousness. It says something about our historical moment that the scheme no longer seems laughable.’ www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...

‘There's no need to read the two preceding novels, but those who have will notice right away that the sense of ancient mythos and of a universe that's not automatically friendly is still throbbing in Miller's version of Edinburgh and its surroundings.’ kingdombks.blogspot.com/2025/08/scot...

Morning in Edinburgh.

The @nytimes.com on The Diary of Lies… ‘Excellent . . . Admirers of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series will appreciate the similarly jaundiced tone.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/b...

What a band, Agriculture. Second half of their latest record is particularly immense.

Well played, Transport for London

Looking forward to talking about my books in Kirkcudbright in March….@kbtbookfestival kbtbookfestival.org/full-programme

Outside my friends, Mark Fisher was one of the first people to say he rated my (non-journalism) writing. I think if K-Punk often and those times. Another world.

It’s taken me this long to realise Will Stanton’s circles are not solid. How else could he put them on his belt….#thedarkisrising

Not out of the woods yet. But there’s always hope.

This is probably one of my favourite stories from my time as a journalist. It led to a bit of a stir. www.heraldscotland.com/news/1239625...

Budding writers: we'll soon be announcing details of how to enter the Finchale Prize for Short Fiction 2026. It's for anyone living or working in the North of England, and we've got a couple of smashing judges lined up. £1000 and a rosey glow to the winner. newwritingnorth.com/northern-wri...

‘Miller is chilling and doom-laden in his furiously poetic depiction of a once great civilization going off the rails. Addressing this through the framework of crime fiction—laced with surreal doses of Old English and Celtic folklore—produces a fascinating hybrid that is Miller’s alone’ - Airmail.

‘Philip Miller hears England screaming. His version of post-Brexit, post-pandemic Great Britain, viewed through the investigative journalism of his heroine, Shona Sandison, is dark and apocalyptic.’

Thanks to @wsj.com for naming The Diary of Lies as a mystery book of the year alongside such fine writers including @damedenisemina.bsky.social www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Our reviewers select the year’s outstanding books. Plus, 50 luminaries from politics, business and the arts share what they read in 2025. on.wsj.com/3Mzqeuj

Thank you to @airmail.news for including The Diary of Lies as a mystery book of the year…. airmail.news/books/2025/1...

John Powers of @npr.org on The Diary of Lies… www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...

Jon Hotten writes beautifully about cricket. The Meaning of Cricket is a fine book.

The Diary of Lies is, according to @nytimes.com one of the best thrillers to read right now… www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Butch Kassidy are an excellent band.

Train Dreams…beautiful film.

Sonnet 66… a banger. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45097/...

‘When Shona finally discovers Grendel's masterplan, it's so cruel and retrograde that, 10 years ago, I would have laughed at its hyperbolic preposterousness. It says something about our historical moment that the scheme no longer seems laughable.’ www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2025/08/...

The Diary of Lies is, according to @nytimes.com one of the best thrillers to read right now… www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

‘One of the delights of this dark and well-twisted novel is the steady echo of Britain's older cultures beneath the action….the sense of ancient mythos and of a universe that's not automatically friendly is still throbbing in Miller's version of Edinburgh.’ kingdombks.blogspot.com/2025/08/scot...

Morning.

I received few reviews for my poetry collection, but this one left by a reader is reassuring… www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

Thanks to Crime Fiction Review for this review… ‘The outline of the plot may sound like a political conspiracy thriller, but in Miller’s hands it’s something quite different. He weaves in acutely drawn characters who are as memorable and original as Dickens’ crimefictionreview.com/the-diary-of...

How lovely to have a review in the Philippines. Thanks to the Manila Bulletin… mb.com.ph/2025/11/01/t...

Ten years since my first novel was published… A story about a painting and the people it destroys.

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

Thanks to @heraldscotland.bsky.social for including The Diary of Lies in this list of books to read in Autumn… www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...

Very much enjoying Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter. But I still am very moved and think a lot about Now We Will Be Entirely Free. The closing chapters are extraordinary, the tone and temper.

‘Love Song’ from Blame Yourself.