Val McDermid's Books | Crime Books

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)