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Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and 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 divides her time between Cheshire and Northumberland.

‘Neatly constructed and splendidly sarcastic about the circus of union politics' Daily Telegraph'Tough, exciting, moody and unpredictable' The Times‘Full of bitchery and backbiting, excellently done’ Literary Review Praise for Val McDermid: 'Val McDermid is an inspiration' Herald'A well-pitched and topical mystery' Sunday Times'McDermid's snappy, often comic, prose keeps the story humming' Publishers Weekly‘The real mistress of psychological gripping thrillers; no one can plot or tell a story like she can’ Daily Express‘The Queen of Crime reigns’ Independent‘McDermid remains unrivalled … Brilliant’ Observer‘With the deaths of PD James and Ruth Rendell, Val McDermid is the obvious successor as Britain's Queen of Crime. For me, she has already held that title for many years’ The Times‘McDermid still writes with the telltale verve that's won her the accolade queen of psychological thrillers’ Guardian‘No one rivals Val McDermid's skill at writing truly terrifying thrillers’ GoodHousekeeping‘McDermid has created a complex and prickly detective. The relationship intertwines a realistic romance with a solid detective story' Washington Times‘[She is] fresh and funny with a sparkling sense of time and place’ Literary Review