Valarie "Val" McDermid, (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir.

Biography

McDermid comes from a working-class family in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

. She studied English at

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it remained a women's college until 20 ...

, where she was the first student to be admitted from a Scottish state school. After graduation she became a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and began her literary career as a dramatist. Her first success as a

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

, ''Report for Murder: The First Lindsay Gordon Mystery'' occurred in 1987. McDermid was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 2000, and won the

CWA Diamond Dagger The Diamond Dagger is an award given by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom to authors who have made an outstanding lifetime's contribution to the genre. Winners * 1986 – Eric Ambler * 1987 – P. D. James * 1988 – John le Car ...

for her lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language in 2010. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Sunderland , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emel ...

in 2011. She is co-founder of the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival and the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, part of the

Harrogate International Festivals Harrogate International Festivals (HIF) is a registered charity and one of the UK's longest running arts festivals, having been established in 1966. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Festivals include the Harrogate Music Festival, Theakston O ...

. In 2016 she captained a team of St Hilda's alumnæ to win the '' Christmas University Challenge''. In 2017, McDermid was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

, as well as a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

Work

McDermid's works fall into four series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, and Inspector Karen Pirie. Her characters include a journalist, Lindsay Gordon; a private investigator, Kate Brannigan; a clinical psychologist, Tony Hill; and DCI Karen Pirie working out of Fife, Scotland. ''The Mermaids Singing'', the first book in the Hill/Jordan series, won the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. The Hill/Jordan series has been adapted for television under the name '' Wire in the Blood'', starring Robson Green. McDermid has stated that Jacko Vance, a TV celebrity with a secret lust for torture, murder and under-age girls, who was featured in the ''Wire in the Blood'' and two later books, is based on her direct personal experience of interviewing

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and '' Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well kno ...

. In 2010, McDermind received the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association for "outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing". McDermid considers her work to be part of the " Tartan Noir" Scottish crime fiction genre. In addition to writing novels, McDermid contributes to several British newspapers and often broadcasts on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

and

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

. Her novels, in particular the Tony Hill series, are known for their graphic depictions of violence and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

. In August 2022 McDermid reported that the estate of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

had threatened her publishers with legal action if they referred to McDermid as 'the Queen of Crime', stating that the term was copyrighted by the Christie estate.

Raith Rovers

McDermid was a lifelong fan of Raith Rovers football club, her father having worked as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

for the club. In 2010, she sponsored the McDermid Stand at Stark's Park, the club's ground in Kirkcaldy, in honour of her father. A year after sponsoring the stand, she became a board member of the club, and starting in 2014 her website became Raith's shirt sponsor. In February 2022, McDermid said she would be withdrawing her support and sponsorship from Raith Rovers after the club signed striker David Goodwillie, who had been ruled to have raped a woman and made to pay damages in a civil case in 2017. Following the signing of Goodwillie, Raith Rovers women’s team severed ties with the main club and renamed themselves McDermid Ladies, after the writer. McDermid moved her sponsorship to the new ladies' team.

Ink attack

On 6 December 2012 a woman poured ink over McDermid during an event at the

. McDermid was signing books, and a woman asked her to autograph a ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' annual which contained a picture of the disgraced late TV presenter

. After McDermid reluctantly agreed the woman threw ink at her and ran out of the room. McDermid said the incident would not stop her from doing signings.

Northumbria Police Northumbria Police is a territorial police force in England. It is responsible for policing the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland, as well as the ceremonial cou ...

arrested Sandra Botham, a 64-year-old woman from the

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

area of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, on suspicion of assault. Botham was convicted of common assault on 10 July 2013, received a 12-month community order with supervision and was made to pay £50 compensation and a £60

victim surcharge In the legal system of England and Wales, the surcharge, often referred to as a ''victim surcharge'' is a penalty applied to people convicted of offences, in addition to a conditional discharge, a fine, or a community or custodial sentence, in o ...

. She was also given a restraining order forbidding her from contacting McDermid for an undefined period of time. The ''

Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its th ...

'' reported that Botham's actions were motivated by McDermid's 1994 non-fiction book, ''A Suitable Job for a Woman'', as Botham claimed that the book contained a passage that besmirched her and her family.

Personal life

McDermid formerly lived in both

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

and near Alnmouth in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

with three cats and a border terrier dog. Since early 2014 she has lived in Stockport and Edinburgh. In 2016, McDermid captained a team of crime writer challengers on the TV quiz '' Eggheads'', beating the Eggheads and winning £14,000. In 2010, she was still living between Northumberland and Manchester with publisher Kelly Smith, with whom she had entered into a civil partnership in 2006. On 23 October 2016 McDermid married her partner of two years, Jo Sharp, a professor of geography at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. McDermid is a radical feminist and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

. She has incorporated feminism into some of her novels.

Works

Lindsay Gordon series

*''Report for Murder'' (1987) *''Common Murder'' (1989) *''Final Edition'' (1991) US Titles: ''Open and Shut'', ''Deadline for Murder'' *''Union Jack ''(1993), US Title: ''Conferences Are Murder'' *''Booked for Murder'' (1996) *''Hostage to Murder'' (2003)

Kate Brannigan series

*''Dead Beat'' (1992) *''Kick Back'' (1993) *''Crack Down'' (1994) *''Clean Break'' (1995) *'' Blue Genes'' (1996) *''Star Struck'' (1998) (awarded Grand Prix des Romans d’Aventure in 1998)

Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series

*''

The Mermaids Singing ''The Mermaids Singing'' (1995 in literature, 1995) is a crime novel by Scottish author Val McDermid. The first featuring her recurring protagonist, Dr. Tony Hill, it was adapted into the pilot episode of ITV1's television series based on McDer ...

'' (1995) (Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year in 1995) *''The Wire in the Blood'' (1997) *'' The Last Temptation'' (2002) *'' The Torment of Others'' (2004) *'' Beneath the Bleeding'' (2007) *'' Fever of the Bone'' (2009) *''The Retribution'' (2011) *''Cross and Burn'' (2013) *''Splinter the Silence ''(2015) *''Insidious Intent'' (2017) *''How the Dead Speak'' (2019)

Inspector Karen Pirie series

*''The Distant Echo'' (2003) *'' A Darker Domain'' (2008) *''The Skeleton Road'' (2014) * ''Out of Bounds'' (2016) *''Broken Ground'' (2018) *''Still Life'' (2020)

Allie Burns series

*''1979'' (2021) *''1989'' (2022)

The Austen Project

*''Northanger Abbey'' (2014)

Other books

*''The Writing on the Wall'' (1997); short stories, limited edition of 200 copies *''

A Place of Execution ''A Place of Execution'' is a crime novel by Val McDermid, first published in 1999. The novel won the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize, the 2001 Dilys Award, was shortlisted for both the Gold Dagger and the Edgar Award, and was chosen by ''The N ...

'' (1999) *''Killing the Shadows'' (2000) *''Stranded'' (2005); short stories *''Cleanskin'' (2006) *''The Grave Tattoo'' (2006) *''Trick of the Dark'' (2010) dedicated to Mary Bennett (1913-2003) & Kathy Vaughan Wilkes (1946-2003) *''The Vanishing Point'' (2012) * ''Resistance: A Graphic Novel'' (2021), illustrated by Kathryn Briggs (

Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distributed in the UK ...

/ Wellcome Collection, London, ) * ''The Second Murder at the Vicarage'' in ''Marple, Twelve New Mysteries'' (2022) p.33-52, ( Harper Collins, New York, )

Children's books

*''My Granny is a Pirate'' (2012) *''The High Heid Yin's New Claes'', published in ''The

Itchy Coo Itchy may refer to: Entertainment Characters * A fictional animated mouse in ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'', the show-within-a-show on ''The Simpsons'' * Attichitcuk, Chewbacca's father in 1978's ''The Star Wars Holiday Special'', nicknamed "Itch ...

Book o Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales in Scots'' (2020)

Non-fiction

*''A Suitable Job for a Woman'' (Harper Collins, 1994) *''Forensics – The Anatomy of Crime'' (Profile Books & Wellcome Collection, 2014) :* Published in the United States under the title ''Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime'' (Black Cat, 2015) *''My Scotland'' (Little, Brown, 2019) *''Imagine a Country'' (Little, Brown, 2020)

References

External links

* *
Val McDermid talks about the novels that have influenced her
in the ''Guardian'' bookshop challenge, 7 June 2010. * Jane Graham
Val McDermid: "There were no lesbians in Fife in the 1960s"
'' The Big Issue'', 7 February 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:McDermid, Val 1955 births Living people People from Kirkcaldy People educated at Kirkcaldy High School Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Scottish crime fiction writers Scottish mystery writers Scottish women novelists Scottish lesbian writers Members of the Detection Club Lambda Literary Award winners Anthony Award winners Macavity Award winners Barry Award winners Dilys Award winners Radical feminists Scottish socialists Women mystery writers Scottish LGBT novelists 20th-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Tartan Noir writers People from Alnmouth Cartier Diamond Dagger winners