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  • Best Crime Fiction

Val McDermid

Recommended Reading

Three of Val McDermid’s books to try:

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
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The Distant Echo: An evocative tale of St Andrews in the late 1970s, four university students and one dead girl. A crisp, concise thriller and the first to feature the young Scottish detective Karen Pirie. (Review)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid
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Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime: McDermid returns to her journalistic roots with an examination of 200 years of forensic science. It won the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Critical/Non-Fiction book. (Notes)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.
The Torment of Others by Val McDermid
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The Torment of Others: The 4th of McDermid’s Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan series won the 2006 Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. It is a bit of a nail-biter. (Notes)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.
Val McDermid

Image by Tim Duncan

Biography

Val McDermid was born to a working-class family in Kirkcaldy, Fife. As a child, she excelled at school and was the first person from a Scottish state school ever accepted into St Hilda’s College, Oxford. A far cry from the mining community where she grew up.

“The only social problem I had was that nobody could understand my accent. Once I’d learnt to speak English, I was fine.” (St Hilda’s College)

A Northern Journalist

After graduating, McDermid trained as a journalist and became the Northern Bureau Chief for the Sunday People in Manchester. Here she covered the case of the Yorkshire Ripper and the aftermath of the Moors Murders. She also interviewed Jimmy Savile.

“He was a deeply unpleasant man. He was all smiles and laughter for the audience, but as soon as we were alone, he was different.” (Daily Record)

A Way Out

Journalism wasn’t all she had hoped, and she decided she needed to dig an escape tunnel.

“I found myself sitting outside Julie Goodyear’s house at six o’clock in the morning waiting to see who came out of the back door.” (The Guardian) – Julie Goodyear was barmaid Bet Lynch in the soap opera Coronation Street.

Thirty-plus novels later, Val McDermid’s books have won critical acclaim. She is best known for her DCI Carol Jordan and criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill series. It became the television show Wire in the Blood. Her novel The Torment of Others won Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. She has written about many other characters, including journalist Lindsay Gordon, private investigator Kate Brannigan, and police officer Karen Pirie. McDermid has also delved into true crime. Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime won the 2016 Anthony award for non-fiction.

Political Views

As an active feminist and lesbian, her worldview comes through in her characters and their perspectives. Lindsay Gordon is a cynical, feminist, socialist, lesbian journalist. There are few of those on bookshop shelves.

Despite her politics, the thing that most underlines her writing is a deadpan sense of humour. She based one of her more sinister characters — Jacko Vance, a TV celebrity fond of underage girls — upon Jimmy Savile.

“People often asked me where I had got the inspiration for the character. They never guessed it was Savile. For a start, Jacko is handsome and charming. I assume Savile didn’t recognise himself in that description.” (Daily Record)

Read more at the author’s website.

Val McDermid’s Books

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid
Get a Copy

The Distant Echo

Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid
Get a Copy

Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime

Notes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.
The Torment of Others by Val McDermid
Get a Copy

The Torment of Others

Notes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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