Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years, spending the last three as Northern Bureau Chief of a national Sunday tabloid. She is now a full-time writer and lives in South Manchester.

'Val McDermid is one of the few crime authors who can be convincing when it comes to 'writing tough' yet retain a powerful emotional insight… McDermid is doing something quite extraordinary with the crime fiction suspense thriller' Scotland on Sunday'This is a hugely ambitious novel, involving three police forces, of which the British seem to be the most Machiavellian' ExpressPraise for Val McDermid:'Val McDermid is a roaring Ferrari amid the crowded traffic on the crime-writing road' Independent'McDermid has become our leading pathologist of everyday evil… The subtle orchestration of terror is masterful' Guardian