Val McDermid

View Reviews of books by Val McDermid

Countdown with ...

Val McDermid

Val McDermid comes from Kirkcaldy, Fife, and read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford (where she is now an Honorary Fellow). She was the first student accepted from a state school in Scotland. Following graduation she became a journalist, and worked briefly as a dramatist.

Her books include three main series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan and the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. The Hill/Jordan series has been adapted for the television drama Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green.

Val’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. She has published 27 novels, short stories, non-fiction and a prize-winning children’s book. She is a regular broadcaster for BBC radio and lives in Edinburgh. Val also sponsors Raith Rovers FC!

Interviewed 12 March 2016

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

Some talent; some luck; and a lot of hard graft.

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

iMac; iPhone; sharp pencils; paperweight with my mother’s ashes in it; a print of Stephen Conroy’s The Healing of a Lunatic Boy; a cup of coffee; chimney pots; the Ochil hills; a pile of hotel notepads.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Crisp bacon, black pudding, scrambled eggs, buttered Scottish morning roll. Tomato ketchup on the side because we all need our vegetables.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

My bidie-in; Louise Welsh; Denise Mina; Laura Lippman; Michael Robotham; Jeanette Winterson and Jackie Kay. Now that would be a fine night out.

Six things you can't live without ...

Writing; coffee; Smints; laughter; books; music.

Five favourite words ...

According to those who know me, preternatural and adamantine would have to be in there… Plinth is a fine word, as are Bunnahabhain and Shiraz…

Four places you'd run away to ...

Tuscany, Wester Ross, Nelson NZ, Barcelona

Three books you've bought recently ...

Denise Mina’s Blood, Salt, Water
Janice Galloway’s Jellyfish
Stuart MacBride’s 22 Dead Little Bodies

Two things that make you rant ...

Injustice; the present government.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

It’ll get better.