Val McDermid

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Scottish crime novel writer (born 1955)

title: "Val McDermid" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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", "british-women-mystery-writers", "scottish-lgbtq-novelists", "lgbtq-crime-writers", "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", "20th-century-british-women-novelists", "21st-century-british-women-novelists"] description: "Scottish crime novel writer (born 1955)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_McDermid" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Scottish crime novel writer (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer "]

FieldValue
nameVal McDermid
honorific_suffix
imageValMcDermid.jpg
captionMcDermid in 2007
birth_date
birth_placeKirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland
occupationWriter
educationSt Hilda's College, Oxford
genreCrime fiction
spouseJo Sharp (m. 2016)
website
::

| name = Val McDermid | honorific_suffix = | image = ValMcDermid.jpg | image_size = | caption = McDermid in 2007 | pseudonym = | birth_date = | birth_place = Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer | education = St Hilda's College, Oxford | genre = Crime fiction | subject = | movement = | spouse = Jo Sharp (m. 2016) | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website =

Valarie McDermid (born 4 June 1955) is a Scottish crime writer of over 30 novels. Her work is considered part of a sub-genre known as Tartan Noir, and is known for uncompromising depictions of violence. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award.

McDermid is best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and his collaborators in the police department. This series was adapted for television, running from 2002 to 2008, and known as Wire in the Blood. The television series Karen Pirie (2022–present), was also adapted from her books featuring the character of the same name.

McDermid also writes for the British press, and often broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland.

Life and career

McDermid comes from a working-class family in Fife. She studied English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she was the first student to be admitted from a Scottish state school.

After graduation, she became a journalist and began her literary career as a dramatist. Her first success as a novelist, Report for Murder: The First Lindsay Gordon Mystery, was published in 1987.

McDermid was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 2000. In 2010 she won the CWA Diamond Dagger for her lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sunderland 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. 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, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2025, McDermid was awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh.

Raith Rovers

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/San_Starko.JPG" caption="[[Stark's Park]] in [[Kirkcaldy]], the home ground of [[Raith Rovers]] football club. The McDermid Stand is visible to the left."] ::

McDermid was a lifelong fan of Raith Rovers football club, her father having worked as a scout 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 a book signing event at the University of Sunderland. Sandra Botham, a 64-year-old woman from Sunderland was convicted of common assault, received a 12-month community order with supervision and was made to pay £50 compensation and a £60 victim surcharge.

Personal life

McDermid lives in Fife and Edinburgh. In 2010, she was 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, at the time a Professor of Geography at the University of Glasgow. Sharp has been Geographer Royal for Scotland since 2022.

McDermid is a feminist and a socialist. She has incorporated feminism into some of her novels.

In 2016, McDermid captained a team of crime writer challengers on the TV quiz Eggheads, beating the Eggheads and winning £14,000.

Bibliography

McDermid's works fall into five series:

  • Lindsay Gordon (journalist)
  • Kate Brannigan (private investigator)
  • Tony Hill (clinical psychologist) and DCI Carol Jordan
  • DCI Karen Pirie
  • Allie Burns (investigative reporter)

The Mermaids Singing, the first book in the Hill/Jordan series by Val McDermid, won the Crime Writers' Association 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 and running from 2002 to 2008. Another series adapted from McDermid's books is the eponymous Karen Pirie.

McDermid has said that her character of Jacko Vance, a TV celebrity with a secret lust for torture, murder and under-age girls, who she featured in Wire in the Blood and two later books, is based on her direct personal experience of interviewing Jimmy Savile.

In addition to writing novels, McDermid contributes to several British newspapers and often broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. Her novels, in particular the Tony Hill series, are known for their graphic depictions of violence and torture.

In 2010, McDermid 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 August 2022 McDermid reported that the estate of Agatha Christie had threatened her publishers with legal action if they referred to McDermid as "the Queen of Crime". They said that the term was copyrighted by the Christie estate.

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

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)
  • Past Lying (2023)
  • Silent Bones (2025)

Allie Burns series

  • 1979 (2021)
  • 1989 (2022)
  • 1999 (TBC)
  • 2009 (TBC)
  • 2019 (TBC)

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

Children's books

  • My Granny is a Pirate (2012)
  • The High Heid Yin's New Claes, published in The Itchy Coo Book o Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales in Scots (2020)

Non-fiction

  • A Suitable Job for a Woman (HarperCollins, 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)
  • Winter: The Story of a Season (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025)

References

References

  1. (2019-09-22). "Scotland's 10 best working class writers".
  2. "Client Challenge".
  3. (29 January 2016). "Dr Val McDermid – English, 1972". [[St Hilda's College, Oxford]].
  4. Wroe, Nicholas. (12 August 2011). "Val McDermid: a life in writing". The Guardian.
  5. (31 August 2016). "I never spook myself, says top Scots crime writer Val McDermid". Daily Record.
  6. (14 July 2011). "Queen of crime in stadium thriller". University of Sunderland News and Events.
  7. (2 January 2017). "Congratulations to St Hilda's Alumnae Team on their Christmas University Challenge Victory". St Hilda's College, Oxford.
  8. (15 February 2017). "RSE Welcomes 60 New Fellows". [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]].
  9. Natasha Onwuemezi. (7 June 2017). "Rankin, McDermid and Levy named new RSL fellows".
  10. (2025-07-03). "Scottish literary star Val McDermid awarded honorary degree".
  11. "Val McDermid – Biography".
  12. Mina, Denise. (February 2002). "Denise Mina talks to Val McDermid". [[Sunday Herald]].
  13. (7 June 2014). "Val McDermid's Raith Rovers sponsorship about giving 'something back into the community'". The Courier.
  14. Anna Burnside. (2 September 2016). "Straight-talking Val McDermid lifts lid on her latest novel and why she's the badass woman of the week". Daily Record.
  15. (1 February 2022). "Val McDermid ends Raith Rovers support over David Goodwillie deal". BBC News.
  16. McKenzie, Lewis. (1 February 2022). "Val McDermid ends Raith Rovers sponsorship over Goodwillie signing".
  17. (2022-02-06). "Raith Rovers ladies' first match since breakaway".
  18. (28 May 2022). "From the ashes: defiant McDermid Ladies stand firm in the spotlight {{!}} Soccer {{!}} The Guardian".
  19. (12 December 2012). "Author attacked by OAP after she gave talk". Shields Gazette.
  20. Ruth Lawson. (13 December 2012). "Ink thrown at author Val McDermid during Sunderland book signing". Journal Live.
  21. Ruth Lawson. (13 December 2012). "Author Val McDermid to carry on signings after attack". Journal Live.
  22. Coreena Ford. (29 December 2012). "Author Val McDermid assaulted at Sunderland book signing". Journal Live.
  23. (11 April 2013). "Woman denies attack on crime writer at Sunderland talk". Sunderland Echo.
  24. Liz Bury. (10 July 2013). "Reader convicted for Val McDermid ink assault". The Guardian.
  25. (12 August 2013). "Widow who attacked Scottish author Val McDermid with ink is given a restraining order". Daily Record.
  26. (12 August 2013). "Val McDermid ink attacker given restraining order". BBC News.
  27. (9 July 2013). "Pensioner in court over vendetta with crime writer Val McDermid". The Northern Echo.
  28. "Welcome to Val McDermid's website.".
  29. Totaro, Paulo. (21 August 2010). "Death becomes her". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  30. Macdonald, Stuart. (25 October 2016). "Author Val McDermid gets married to long-term partner Jo Sharp". Daily Record.
  31. (24 October 2016). "Val McDermid marries partner in Edinburgh". Edinburgh News.
  32. (8 September 2008). "Val McDermid – Crime and reason". [[The Scotsman]].
  33. (10 April 2010). "Interview: It can be murder, but Val McDermid's love of Raith is no mystery". The Scotsman.
  34. Sally Rowena Munt. (1994). "Murder by the Book: Feminism and the Crime Novel". Routledge.
  35. (28 October 2012). "I based psycho on Jimmy Savile, says writer Val McDermid". The Daily Record.
  36. (January 12, 2010). "Val McDermid 'gobsmacked' by Diamond Dagger award". The Guardian.
  37. Hannah Ellis-Petersen. (25 August 2015). "Val McDermid: 'I'm working class – I wouldn't be able to go to Oxford now'". The Guardian.
  38. (29 August 2022). "Val McDermid reveals 'Queen of Crime' legal threat from Agatha Christie estate". Edinburgh Evening News.
  39. "Val McDermid".
  40. "Val McDermid". [[British Council]]: Literature.
  41. Rob Peacock. (2 June 2009). "Crime Novel of the Year shortlist announced". digyorkshire.com.
  42. "Cross and Burn by Val McDermid: Undiscovered Scotland Book Review".
  43. (19 August 2017). "Val McDermid: 'Even on a romantic holiday my thoughts turn to murrrder'".
  44. "How the Dead Speak".
  45. (7 September 2021). "The best recent thrillers – review roundup".
  46. (26 March 2014). "Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid review – 'Austen for the Facebook age'".
  47. Orchard Books. {{ISBN. 978-1-40830-927-8.
  48. "Forensics – The Anatomy of Crime".

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