Renowned author Allan Massie, hailed as one of Scotland's greatest literary figures, has died aged 87. Massie had been battling what he described as a "wretched cancer" and only stepped down as a literary critic for The Scotsman last month. Massie passed away surrounded by his loved ones at his home in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders on Tuesday (February 3). Posting on Substack, his son, Alex, said: "Father died this afternoon. Outside, my sister’s Dandie Dinmont terrier was barking in the garden as he quietly slipped away. It was a good and gentle end to a good and gentle life, the sort of death many of us might wish for ourselves: at peace, in bed, surrounded by all his children.

"He was a good and kind man and there are many younger writers and others for whom he has been a source of encouragement and much else besides. He was also - and forgive me for stressing this but it does feel important - a great father. We shall miss him greatly while being consoled that all those words do form and furnish a kind of self-made monument." Massie was born in Singapore but was raised by his mother in Aberdeenshire. He attended Glenalmond College on a scholarship before heading to Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1960.

Massie wrote almost 30 books and is estimated to have reviewed around 3,500 books for The Scotsman since starting at the paper in 1975. His first novel, Change and Decay in All Around I See, was published in 1978. Massie considered his mid-European trilogy of A Question of Loyalties (1989), The Sins of the Father (1991) and Shadows of Empire (1997) to be among his best work.

His final book, End Games in Bordeaux, was published in 2015. Alongside his lengthy stint as The Scotsman’s literary critic, he wrote columns for The Scottish Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, The Herald and The Daily Telegraph.

Massie was honoured with a Knighthood of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2007 and received a CBE six years later.

After stepping back from his work with The Scotsman last month, Massie said: "I’m not reading much these days. My eyesight isn’t what it was, so for the last few months I’ve been spending my days sitting here, thinking, reflecting and remembering. If this wretched cancer wasn’t involved, it would all be quite agreeable."

Leading the tributes was author Ian Rankin, who was taught by Massie at Edinburgh University in the early 1980s.

He said: "Allan was such a huge help to me. The writers in residence I’d met at Edinburgh Uni had all been poets but I’d moved from poetry to prose.

“Then Allan arrived and I started showing him stuff. I then entered a short story contest sponsored by Sinclair Computers and The Scotsman. Allan was the judge and I was runner-up to Iain Crichton Smith. A huge fillip.

“Allan was also editing New Edinburgh Review and took a story or two for that. Then, after Polygon had published my first novel The Flood, Allan introduced me to his editor at Bodley Head, Euan Cameron. Euan took my first Rebus novel Knots and Crosses. And that was that. Allan even provided a quote for the jacket.I was in my infancy as a published writer but Allan was there at the delivery! We kept in touch forever after.”

He added: "Allan was throughout this period a terrific and largely underrated writer - novels, non-fiction, book reviews and other journalism. It was a privilege to get to know the man behind the work. I’ll always be grateful to him."

Another shared on X: "Allan Massie was hugely important to me. One of my very first readers and champions. He was also an underappreciated novelist, a sharp but humane literary critic, a gentleman."

A third echoed: "So very sorry to hear the great Allan Massie is dead. Always admired his fiction. His reviews a pleasure to read. Emails invariably cheering. Eternally grateful to him for putting me in PEN New Fiction II a great many years ago. RIP @alexmassie."

Massie is survived by his three children Alex, Claudia and Louis.