Val McDermid's Blog
July 21, 2025
And Midnight Never Come
Val says: ‘It’s a gripping drama provoked by my long fascination with the death – and the life – of the electrifying Elizabethan theatre pioneer Christopher Marlowe. Without Marlowe, it’s fair to say Shakespeare would have struggled longer and harder to find his extraordinary voice, and what we know of the shoemaker’s son from Canterbury is tantalisingly incomplete. The myth of his death is that he died in a pub brawl over the bill. And that’s not just untrue — it makes no sense of what we do know about the dashing and brilliant playwright whose lines are part of the landscape of our lives – ‘Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?’ ‘Come live with me and be my love.’ ‘Whoever loved that loved not at first signt?’ I’ve been struggling to write this play for more than forty years, obsessing with finding the language and the structure to tell the story. And finally it’s going to be seen by an audience! You can see it for yourself at Pitlochry Festival Theatre on Monday 18th August at 2.30 and at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Tuesday 19th August at 8pm in the Spiegeltent. It’s directed by Philip Howard and I’m hugely grateful to Deborah Dickinson and her team at Pitlochry and to Tam Zimet and her colleagues at Edinburgh International Book Festival for making it happen. But mostly, to Alan Cumming whose generosity and vision as the incoming director at Pitlochry has lit a fire underneath my words. I can’t wait.’
June 20, 2025
Second Season of Karen Pirie
Lauren Lyle will be returning as DI Karen Pirie as the cast dive into the 1980s in a series based on A Darker Domain.
It seemed like an unsolvable mystery at the time: a wealthy heiress and son kidnapped in Fife, then a botched payoff, leaving her dead with no trace of the child. So when, over twenty-five years later, a possible clue is discovered by a journalist in Tuscany, cold case expert DI Karen Pirie doesn’t hold much hope of unravelling the infamous enigma.
She’s already investigating a case from the same year. At the height of the miner’s strike, Mick Prentice broke ranks to join ‘scab’ strike-breakers down south. But new evidence suggests Mick’s disappearance may not be as straightforward as that – and Karen’s investigations take her into a dark domain of secrets, betrayal and the ultimate violence! Past and present intertwine in a novel of taut psychological suspense that explores the intersection of desire and greed.
The latest Karen Pirie thriller Silent Bones is publishing October 2025, pre-order yours now!
Publication date UK: 23 October 2025 (Little, Brown Book Group)
Publication date US: 02 December 2025
June 4, 2025
Silent Bones
THE MASTERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES
The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .
When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.
Meanwhile in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson’s book club have to do with his demise – and what will they do to keep their secrets?
Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one which connects their murder cases with Scotland’s rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits – and possibly beyond . . .
Publication date UK: 23 October 2025 (Little, Brown Book Group)
Publication date US: 02 December 2025
May 14, 2025
DIVA Writer of the Year award
DIVA Writer of the Year award
At the end of April, I took a couple of days off from working on SILENT BONES to go down to London for the DIVA Awards Dinner. It’s always a great night but this year was especially uplifting — following the egregious Supreme Court judgement and its potential impact on the ability of trans people to live their lives, the love and solidarity in the room was palpable. It was wonderful to see so many friendly faces, but for me the evening was transformed by the joy of winning the DIVA Writer of the Year award. I was genuinely gobsmacked — it was such a strong shortlist, I thought I had no chance! Such a vindication to win this award in the year I will publish my 40th novel. (Yes, 40th! How did that happen?) Find out more…
I finished the first draft of Silent Bones at the beginning of the second week of May — a bit later than usual, but so it goes… Now it’s gone off to my editor, my agent and my US editor and I’m in that blissful state of having completed the draft but not yet having had my notes… Time to enjoy the sunshine!
January 29, 2025
Thrilled to be part of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2025
Thrilled to be part of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2025.
We reveal a criminally good Special Guest lineup for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2025.
We’ll celebrate global icons, TV talent and fan favourites as we reveal the star-studded Special Guest authors for this July.
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May 17, 2024
Val McDermid is awarded the Radio Bremen Crime Prize 2024 17th May 2024
The Radio Bremen Crime Prize 2024 has been awarded to Val McDermid. One of the most prestigious crime prizes in Germany, Radio Bremen has been recognising excellence in the crime writing community since 2001, with previous winners including Max Bronski, Anne Holt, and Elisabeth Hermann.
The judges said: “In her almost 40 crime novels, [Val McDermid] takes a stand that is as clear as it is entertaining and exciting. The fight against homophobia, misogyny and the abuse of privilege are central to her work. At the same time, she addresses current social developments: from Brexit to Scottish independence efforts, from Covid-19 to upheavals in the media landscape. Her books form a unique chronicle of the past three decades.”
May 6, 2024
Filming begins on Series 2 of Karen Pirie 6th May 2024
Lauren Lyle, Emer Kenny, Chris Jenks and more are returning for the second season of Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie TV series for ITV. A three-parter based on Val’s novel A Darker Domain, this season sees Karen reopen the investigation into the unsolved kidnap of a wealthy young heiress and her baby son back in 1985. It will be directed by Gareth Bryn (Line of Duty) and Amanda Blue (The Gathering).
Karen Pirie launched with 6.6m viewers and averaged 5.9m across the series making it one of the most watched new dramas on ITV last year.
March 14, 2024
Harrogate International Festivals launches McDermid Debut Award 14th March 2024
Harrogate International Festivals has launched a new prize for authors, the McDermid Debut Award, open to full-length debut crime novels by UK and Irish authors.
Harrogate International Festivals said: Named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, who co-founded the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2003 and whose dedication to fostering new voices in crime fiction through the New Blood panel is legendary, this new award seeks to continue her legacy, celebrating and platforming the best debut crime writers in the UK.
January 18, 2024
Past Lying is nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award 2024 18th January 2024
The Mystery Writers of America has announced the nominees for the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2023.
Val McDermid’s novel Past Lying has been nominated for The P. G. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award, which recognises the Best Novel in a Series Featuring a Female Protagonist. The winners will be announced in May 2024.
October 17, 2018
Judging the Man Booker Prize
Val McDermid on What It’s Like Judging the Man Booker Prize – Q & A
LONDON — On the morning of Oct. 16, five judges will meet in a secret location here to decide the winner of the Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards.
They will have about eight hours to pick a winner from the six-strong shortlist, which includes Rachel Kushner’s “The Mars Room” and Esi Edugyan’s “Washington Black.” But the five — philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, crime writer Val McDermid, cultural critic Leo Robson, feminist writer Jacqueline Rose and graphic novelist Leanne Shapton — will have actually read 171 books over the last seven months to make their choice.
“We are paid, yes,” said Ms. McDermid when asked if she was compensated for such time-consuming work. “If you add up all the hours, I think it works out below minimum wage,” she added.
Why did she accept the offer to be a judge? For a simple reason: “Everyone said to me, ‘You have to do this. It’s an honor and you’ll enjoy it.’ They were right.”
Read the original article…
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