Val McDermid's Blog, page 12
July 22, 2016
Who beat JK Rowling’s alter ego Robert Galbraith to the crime novel of the year award?
Former policewoman Clare Mackintosh has beaten JK Rowling to the Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award.
Harry Potter author Rowling was shortlisted for Career Of Evil, written under her pen name Robert Galbraith, but lost out to Mackintosh with her debut thriller, I Let You Go.
Mackintosh spent 12 years in the police force but left in 2011 and became a full-time writer.
The crime-writing prize is now in its twelfth year, with previous winners including Val McDermid, Lee Child, Mark Billingham, Sarah Hilary and Denise Mina.
Mackintosh, who will receive £3,000, beat off competition from a shortlist of six British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between May 1 2015 and April 30 2016.
July 20, 2016
Two new Val McDermid thrillers to Little, Brown…
Article by Katherine Cowdrey
Little, Brown has acquired two more thrillers from “Queen of Crime” Val McDermid.
Lucy Malagoni, editorial director for Sphere Fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two novels from Jane Gregory at Gregory & Company. The first of these two novels will be published in 2017.
Malagoni said: “I am over the moon that Sphere will be publishing more novels from the inimitable Val McDermid. Val is the most extraordinary writer who continues to thrill and excite readers with every book – it is both a privilege and a pleasure to work with her.”
Gregory said: “Working with David Shelley, Lucy Malagoni and the Little, Brown team is a joy for Val and for me, so I am delighted we have another deal in place.”
Val is the most extraordinary writer who continues to thrill and excite readers with every book…
McDermid publishes her 30th novel Out of Bounds on 25th August and later this week will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.
She said: “I’m delighted to continue my relationship with the team at Little, Brown who have demonstrated that even after thirty novels there are still new heights to conquer. It’s great to work with such enthusiastic people who relish challenge as much as I do.”
Little, Brown m.d. Charlie King added: “Val is one of the world’s most talented and brilliant crime writers. Everyone at Little, Brown is hugely proud to publish her, and we are thrilled by the prospect of working with Val for many years to come.”
July 14, 2016
‘Maybe the Brits are just having us on’: the world reacts to Boris Johnson as foreign minister…
International community greets news of former London mayor’s big appointment with a mixture of fear, bemusement and panic
The Guardian
Thursday 14 July 2016
Bonnie Malkin, Philip Oltermann in Berlin and Tom Phillips in Beijing
Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA
The world of politics, diplomacy and celebrity has reacted with a mixture of amusement and horror to the news that Boris Johnson has been appointed Britain’s new foreign secretary.
Johnson himself said he was “excited” to take up the new role , which will involve travelling the globe, meeting foreign leaders and representing Britain on the international stage.
However, his track record when it comes to interacting with other cultures is patchy to say the least, and politicians around the world will no doubt be intrigued by the prospect of working with a man who once wrote a poem about the Turkish president having sex with a goat.
In the US, the official reaction was one of carefully restrained laughter.
July 12, 2016
Douglas Skelton is on the final list for Scottish Crime Book of the Year…
CUMNOCK Chronicle editor-turned crime author Douglas Skelton will be rubbing shoulders with the elite of Scottish writers as a contender for a top award.
He is one of 10 authors who have made the final candidates for Scottish Crime Book of the Year, a list chosen by an independent panel of readers, for his book Open Wounds.
Among the competition are illustrious names such as Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre.
June 18, 2016
Galbraith, McDermid and Child make Dead Good Reader shortlists…
Published June 17, 2016 by Katherine Cowdrey – The Bookseller
The Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists have been announced, featuring Val McDermid, Lee Child and Peter James along with Robert Galbraith, C L Taylor and Stuart MacBride.
The six awards, created in collaboration with the Dead Good community to celebrate “unique elements” in crime writing, are nominated and voted for by readers that will be presented at the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate in July.
Up for The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book is Career of Evil (Little, Brown), the third novel by J K Rowling’s pseudonym “Robert Galbraith”; Die of Shame (Little, Brown) by Mark Billingham, also a recent finalist for the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library; psychological thriller In Her Wake (Orenda) by Amanda Jennings; The Missing (Avon) by C L Taylor, described by Fiona Barton to have “an agonising twist”; Tastes Like Fear (Headline) by former bookseller Sarah Hilary who won Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015; and debut Untouchable Things (Legend Press) by Tara Guha, which was authored on the 2014 Luke Bitmead Bursary.
The Tess Gerritsen Award for Best Series shortlists the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child, who recently confirmed he would be continuing the series under a new contract with Transworld to fans’ delight, and the Roy Grace series by Peter James, who is on his 11th novel in the series Want You Dead (Macmillan). Also shortlisted are Sarah Hilary’s Marnie Rome (Headline), Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae (HarperCollins), Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway (Quercus) and Marnie Riches’ George Mackenzie (Maze) series.
June 11, 2016
Val McDermid to release 30th novel…
The Bookseller – Published June 10, 2016 by Katherine Cowdrey
Scottish crime writer Val McDermid is publishing her 30th novel, a suspenseful thriller called Out of Bounds, with Little, Brown this August.
as twisted as the DNA helix itself
McDermid has sold over 11m books to date, according to the publisher, translated into 30 languages, and this year she is being honoured with the Outstanding Contribution award at the Theakston’s Harrogate Crime Festival. McDermid’s last standalone novel The Skeleton Road (Sphere) was a number one bestseller in paperback and in the top 10 for three weeks.
Her new hardback, Out of Bounds, will be “a gripping, chilling book” that deals with the way in which families live with the impact of violent crime years after the media have forgotten about their once-newsworthy sufferings.
Bringing together grief, terrorism, murder, justice and forensics, the plot takes off when a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma and a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from 22 years ago. The answer to the cold case is “as twisted as the DNA helix itself”. A mystery rooted in a terrorist bombing two decades ago is also simultaneously investigated.
Out of Bounds was part of a two book contract for UK and Commonwealth rights, bought from Jane Gregory. It will publish on 25th August, priced £18.99.
June 6, 2016
Bob McDevitt: Book festival goes from strength to strength…
BLOODY Scotland book festival aims to punch above its weight, writes Bob McDevitt.
Now in its fifth year, Bloody Scotland was the brainchild of a group of Scottish crime writers (and one literary agent) who felt that there was room in the festival calendar in Scotland for one dedicated to crime writing. They were certainly right, as the audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and the festival has grown every year.
the audience reaction has been overwhelmingly positive…
Scotland definitely punches above its weight in terms of the number of world-class crime writers it has produced, with names like Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina and the godfather of them all, William McIlvanney. The 2016 festival will be the first to take place since his death, and in addition to dedicating the festival to his memory, the Scottish Crime Book of the Year will be renamed The McIlvanney Prize from this year on.
June 2, 2016
Bloody Scotland crime literature festival returns to Stirling…
A host of crime writers will return to Stirling for the fifth running of the Bloody Scotland Festival in September.
The festival this year is dedicated to the memory of the late William McIlvanney, and the Scottish Crime Book of the Year prize, awarded on the opening night of the festival, will be named the McIlvanney Prize.
Now in its 5th year, the Bloody Scotland Festival will run from the 9-11 September.
Appearing at the festival will be many popular crime and thriller writers including Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre, Ian Rankin, Nicci French, Mark Billingham, Martina Cole and MC Beaton.
June 1, 2016
Outlander author Diana Gabaldon added to new Scottish book festival…
The creator of the popular time-travel romance drama Outlander has been added to the line up of a new Scottish literary festival.
Diana Gabaldon will take part in the Saltire Society’s first virtual literary festival.
She will join authors Val McDermid, Michael Faber, A. L. Kennedy, Vic Galloway, Juno Dawson and Kirsty Logan for the Saltire Society’s first “virtual literary festival”, taking place between the 24 and 26 June.
The festival will also feature a live screening of William McIlvanney: Living With Words, a portrait of the late Scottish author.
May 25, 2016
The Kraken Wakes…
Scottish first minister and SNP leader will play herself in crime writer Val McDermid’s take on John Wyndham’s science fiction novel The Kraken Wakes.
Val McDermid, the Scottish independence-supporting author, has put Scotland in charge of the remains of the UK in a new adaptation for the BBC which gives first minister Nicola Sturgeon a role playing herself.
It’s a wee bit of fun, but it’s rooted in the reality of the situation
Val McDermid
Crime writer McDermid moved the action of John Wyndham’s classic 1953 science fiction novel The Kraken Wakes from North Yorkshire to Scotland and gave Sturgeon a part calmly broadcasting instructions to the survivors of an alien invasion in her adaptation for Radio 4.
The BBC insisted that the dramatisation of The Kraken Wakes was delayed until after the Scottish parliamentary elections on 5 May as it feared accusations of bias.
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