VAL,QUEEN OF SCOTS

ONE OF THE LIVING LEGENDS OF MYSTERY WRITING, VAL McDERMID HAS ENTERTAINED READERS AND DRIVEN THE GENRE FORWARD FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, BUT SHE WAS NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

- Craig Sisterson

It all started on a Monday afternoon in the middle of the 1980s. A young British journalist nicknamed “Killer” for her tenacity in chasing stories, the first kid from a Scottish state school to be admitted into historic Oxford University, sat down for her latest attempt at writing a publishable novel. The young journo had a busy life—a few hours each Monday afternoon were all she could spare to chase her childhood dream of writing a book. Her first manuscript had been roundly rejected by all the many publishers she’d sent it to.

But this time was different. This time she had a clearer idea of the kind of story she wanted to write. This time she’d write the type of story that she loved as a reader, and excited her as an aspiring writer. This time, Val McDermid would write a crime novel.

“I got hooked on Agatha Christie when I was about nine or ten years old, and alongside everything else I read over the years, I’d carried on reading the Golden Age, the Americans, the more modern stuff like P.D. James and Ruth Rendell,” says McDermid, who in 2010 received the CWA Diamond Dagger for “outstanding contribution to the genre.”

On that Monday afternoon long ago, McDermid began writing Report for Murder, the first outing for Lindsay Gordon, the firstever lesbian sleuth in British crime writing, and an early step on McDermid’s march towards coronation as a modern-day Queen of Crime.

In the last decade, McDermid hasn’t rested on her laurels. She has continued to raise the bar, challenging herself and her readers. She’s stretched into new areas as a writer and beyond while keeping her longrunning series and beloved characters fresh and interesting.