Bestselling, award-winning author Val McDermid delivers her most stunning story yet in The Distant Echo ---an intricate, thought-provoking tale of murder and revenge The second half of the book finds our lads no longer lads, but respectable family men earning incomes in respectable middle-class work. Then they begin dying one by one in 'accidents'. Oh oh. Val McDermid talks about the novels that have influenced her in the Guardian bookshop challenge, 7 June 2010.

Val McDermid’s series of cold case investigations, Karen Pirie (w/t) has been commissioned by ITV from the producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, World Productions. a b Coreena Ford (29 December 2012). "Author Val McDermid assaulted at Sunderland book signing". Journal Live . Retrieved 11 January 2012. Ferguson, Brian (29 August 2022). "Val McDermid reveals 'Queen of Crime' legal threat from Agatha Christie estate". Edinburgh Evening News . Retrieved 29 September 2022. RSE Welcomes 60 New Fellows" (Press release). Royal Society of Edinburgh. 15 February 2017 . Retrieved 28 March 2017.

Maybe what I find the most enchanting is the way how McDermid writes men, and psychopaths. She managed to have me side and sympathise with four lads, during the earliest era of modern lad culture. And she somehow managed to do that without being in any way forgiving about their faults. These were real, genuine boys and men, without any of the artificial affectations so common in romance, and that felt like a fresh breath. 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 occurred in 1987. [3] From the creators of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, KAREN PIRIE is now on ITV, starring Lauren Lyle (Outlander) This book is very much about the effects of false blame and how a close group of friends manage to survive during this. Our main characters are all very lovable and real. McDermid does a great job shows the progression from young lads to fully grown men. You can't help but feel for them all throughout their struggles. Twenty-five years on, someone appears to be willing to risk everything to keep the secrets surrounding the case hidden. Do the three men know more than they previously revealed? How flawed was the original investigation? And can Karen uncover the truth of what happened to Rosie that fateful night?

The Independent– Val McDermid adaptation hits each benchmark of a good detective thriller with the resounding thud of an assassinated key witness meeting the hard concrete of an empty car park. Congratulations to St Hilda's Alumnae Team on their Christmas University Challenge Victory". St Hilda's College, Oxford. 2 January 2017 . Retrieved 22 March 2017. Mina, Denise (February 2002). "Denise Mina talks to Val McDermid". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007 . Retrieved 9 July 2007. Oh yeah. Shudder. I can’t recall the last time I had to stop reading because I couldn’t take it. I have read and watched a lot of horror in my day and while I wince with empathy, I seldom stop. I had to stop. And then I had to read to find out what happened even if it were the worst. The sweat’s popping out just thinking about it again. Claustrophobia is a terrible thing. His accent. Otherwise, I didn't really enjoy his performance. I thought his various voices of the main characters were strange--especially Rev."Weird."Kudos, Madam McDermid for an exciting opening novel. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for us next. Four students at the University of St Andrews stumbled over Rosie Duff whilst lurching home from a late-night party. Rosie had been raped, stabbed and left bleeding to death. One of the boys ran for help whilst another — a medical student — struggled in vain to keep her alive. After an exhaustive investigation, the police failed to find Rosie’s killer. The only suspects were the four blood-splattered young men who tried to save her. Kenny deliberately watched ITV crime dramas, from Prime Suspect to Unforgotten, to find “a character and tone that hadn’t been done there”. Part of this was the decision that Karen would be casual about dressing and hairdressing, mirroring McDermid’s refusal to glamorise female characters. People keep saying, ‘Have they put a kid on this case?’ Lauren Lyle

Hannah Ellis-Petersen (25 August 2015). "Val McDermid: 'I'm working class – I wouldn't be able to go to Oxford now' ". The Guardian. I struggle myself,” says Lyle, “with the idea we’re always seeing women murdered on screen. But, in this, we are looking at it through the eyes of a young woman. And, also, the issue isn’t going anywhere: women are still being murdered and we haven’t resolved it. Why should we stop covering it on screen?”Outlander star Lauren Lyle will take the lead role of Karen Pirie in a new ITV drama series from the producers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, World Productions. The mutilated body of a young woman barely clinging to life is found by 4 college students on a blustery cold winter night. One of them frantically runs for help while the others wait with the unconscious victim. The victim, Rosie, is know to them all and they soon become implicated in her murder.