1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom and she needs something explosive for the boys’ club to take her seriously.

Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies – and Allie won’t stop there. When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she’s a woman in a man’s world . . . and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.

This is the atmospheric, heart-pounding first novel in a gripping new series by the Queen of Crime Val McDermid.

In this superb new addition to Val McDermid’s masterful crime series, DCI Karen Pirie returns in a propulsive thriller of deceit and vengeance, set against the disquiet of a global pandemic.

Britain’s reigning “Queen of Crime” (The Scotsman), Val McDermid is the award-winning, internationally bestselling author of over thirty novels. The long-awaited seventh novel in the acclaimed series that has captivated audiences for twenty years, both on the page and now in the Edgar Award–nominated ITV/BritBox show, Past Lying is a full tilt novel of ego, retribution, deceit, and just how far one will go to settle the score.

It’s April 2020 and Edinburgh is in lockdown. It would seem like a strange time for a cold case to go hot—the streets all but empty, an hour’s outdoor exercise the maximum allowed—but a mere pandemic doesn’t mean crime takes a holiday. When a source at the National Library contacts DCI Karen Pirie’s team about documents in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist, it seems it’s game on again. At the center of it, a novel: two crime novelists facing off over a chessboard. But it quickly emerges that their real-life competition is drawing blood. What unspools is a twisted game of betrayal and revenge, and as Karen and her team attempt to disentangle fact from fiction, it becomes clear that their investigation is more complicated than they ever imagined.

A tense, atmospheric page-turner, Past Lying reaffirms McDermid as one of the most talented crime writers of her generation.

Past and present intertwine in this brilliant exploration of loyalty and greed from bestselling mistress of suspense Val McDermid.

"Fife, Scotland, 1984." Mick Prentice abandons his family at the height of a politically charged national miners' strike to join the strikebreakers down south. Despised and disowned by friends and relatives, he is not reported missing until twenty-three years later.

"Fife, Scotland, 1985." Kidnapped heiress Catriona Maclennan Grant is killed and her baby son vanishes when the ransom payoff goes horribly wrong. In 2008, a tourist in Tuscany stumbles upon dramatic new evidence that reopens the investigation.

Already immersed in the Prentice affair, Detective Karen Pirie, newly appointed head of the Cold Case Review Team, wants to make her mark with this second unsolved 1980s mystery. But two decades' worth of secrets are leading Pirie into a dark domain of violence and betrayal--a place darker than any she has previously entered.

In the new installment to her historical crime series that began with 1979, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid delivers a propulsive new thriller that finds journalist Allie Burns has become an editor, and as the Cold War and AIDS crisis deliver a nonstop tide of news, most of it bad, a story falls into her lap. And then there's a murder. Hailed as Britain's Queen of Crime, Val McDermid's award-winning, internationally bestselling novels have captivated readers for more than thirty years. In her Allie Burns series, she returns to the past--both ours and in some ways her own--with the story of a female journalist whose stories lead her into world of corruption, terror, and murder. It's 1989 and Allie Burns is back. Older and maybe wiser, she's running the northern news operation of the Sunday Globe, chafing at losing her role in investigative journalism and at the descent into the gutter of the UK tabloid media. But there's plenty to keep her occupied. The year begins with the memorial service for the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, but Allie has barely filed her copy when she stumbles over a story about HIV/AIDS that will shock her into a major change of direction. The world of newspapers is undergoing a revolution, there's skullduggery in the medical research labs and there are seismic rumblings behind the Iron Curtain. When murder is added to this potent mix, Allie is forced to question all her old certainties. Readers are having a great time time-traveling with Val, and 1989 is a seamless, riveting novel that brings us once again face to face with how very much past is prologue, and how history's sins stay with us.

A brand new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Crime’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors. This collection of twelve original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery. · Naomi Alderman · Leigh Bardugo · Alyssa Cole · Lucy Foley · Elly Griffiths · Natalie Haynes · Jean Kwok · Val McDermid · Karen M. McManus · Dreda Say Mitchell · Kate Mosse · Ruth Ware Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.

THE SECOND THRILLING NOVEL IN VAL MCDERMID'S NEW SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES There's nothing like a killer story . . . 1989. The world is changing, and Allie Burns is still on the front line, covering the stories that count. Although Allie is no longer an investigative journalist, her instincts are sharper than ever. When she discovers a lead about the exploitation of society's most vulnerable, Allie is determined to give a voice to those who have been silenced. As Allie edges closer to exposing the truth, she travels behind the Iron Curtain, to East Berlin on the brink of revolution. The dark heart of the story is more shocking than she ever imagined. And to tell it, Allie must risk her freedom and her life . . . The latest Allie Burns thriller, set a decade after the bestselling first novel in the ground-breaking, iconic new series. Praise for 1979 'McDermid is at her considerable best' GUARDIAN 'Irresistible' PATRICIA CORNWELL 'A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre' PETER JAMES 'Outstanding' SPECTATOR 'Another masterpiece' DAVID BALDACCI 'Sensational. One of Britain's most accomplished writers' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'A thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era' JANE HARPER 'Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following' SCOTSMAN 'A brilliant thriller' LINWOOD BARCLAY 'A nail-biting new series' OBSERVER 'Full of wit, thrills and incisive social observation' MICK HERRON 'Her best book in years' THE TIMES

In this definitive collection, Julia Darling's indomitable women emerge laughing, shouting and snarling. Darling's cast of aunties, sisters, mothers and grandmothers do battle with house keys and knitting needles as they deal with cancer, teen angst and tyranny. Their heartbreakingly funny stories portray women making their own worlds - of survival, love and loyalty. This exquisite book will enfold the reader in an origami of vivacious, witty narratives, exploring the fault lines in everyday life. `Julia Darling is a true original. Her particular way of looking at the world is infectious. Time and time again, the reader thinks, yes, that's it, exactly. Here's a whole cast of characters who will win over your heart.' Jackie Kay

As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P.G. Wodehouse – discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best. Long inhabited by a collection of profoundly offbeat locals, there has been a recent influx of the newly rich and well to do arriving in the village of Cotten Abbas … and not everyone is happy about it. New arrivals are receiving anonymous letters that know a little too much about dark secrets and dirty laundry. Gervase Fen is summoned to the scene, but soon finds more than he bargained for. A suicide on Friday, a murder by Sunday, and some villagers that seem hell bent on keeping this mystery unsolved…

The first novel in the bestselling Karen Pirie series The award-winning Number One bestseller and Queen of crime fiction Val McDermid carves out a stunning psychological thriller. The past is behind them, but what's still to come will tear them apart... From the creators of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, KAREN PIRIE is now on ITV, starring Lauren Lyle (Outlander) Some things just won't let go. The past, for instance. That night in the cemetery. The girl's body in the snow. On a freezing Fife morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later the police mount a 'cold case' review of Rosie's unsolved murder and the four are still suspects. But when two of them die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice. For the remaining two there is only one way to avoid becoming the next victim - find out who really killed Rosie all those years ago...

WINNER OF THE CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER In Bloody Scotland a selection of Scotland's best crime writers use the sinister side of the country's built heritage in stories that are by turns gripping, chilling and redemptive. Stellar contributors Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Ann Cleeves, Louise Welsh, Lin Anderson, Doug Johnstone, Gordon Brown, Craig Robertson, E S Thomson, Sara Sheridan and Stuart MacBride explore the thrilling potential of Scotland's iconic sites and structures. From murder in an ancient broch and a macabre tale of revenge among the furious clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and a rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate - and deadly - connections between people and places. Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation's buildings - where passion, fury, desire and death collide.

The Number One bestselling crime series featuring Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV's Wire in the Blood, written by the award-winning Val McDermid. The hunt for a serial killer leads from Britain through Europe in this terrifying psychological thriller. A twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe. Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home... Meanwhile, his former partner DCI Carol Jordan is working undercover in Berlin, on a dangerous operation to trap a millionaire trafficker. When the game turns nasty, Tony is the only person she can call on for help. Confronting a cruelty that has its roots in Nazi atrocities, Tony and Carol are thrown together in a world of violence and corruption, where they have no one to trust but each other.

The ferociously readable, #1 bestselling crime thriller that led to the much-loved ITV show... 'Wholly satisfying' Ian Rankin Young girls are disappearing nationwide Dr Tony Hill sets his team a task: find a link between the cases. Only one officer comes up with a theory, but it's too wild... that is, until one of their number is murdered and mutilated. Tony has started a game - one where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed. He has baited an aggressor whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind... When a killer is hiding in plain sight Who can stop them? 'Truly frightening' The Times 'Sly and sophisticated, weaving the mundane with the stomach-churningly depraved' Express

The stunning first novel in the Kate Brannigan series, from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller Val McDermid. 'This is crime writing of the very highest order' The Times Introducing Kate Brannigan, Manchester's most-loved private detective - a woman who won't take no for an answer. As a favour, Kate agrees to track down a missing songwriter, Moria Pollock. It was supposed to be a nice simple case, but the search soon leads Kate into the dark underworld of Leeds, Manchester and Bradford - and finally to a shocking confrontation with a killer...

The second gripping thriller in the Kate Brannigan series, from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller Val McDermid. 'No one can plot or tell a story like McDermid' Express PI Kate Brannigan is hired to investigate a series of strange financial scams across Manchester. At first it looks like a discrepancy with the paperwork, but the deeper Kate digs, the murkier the case becomes. Before long she's up to her neck in crooked land deals - and murder - and her own life is on the line...

A gripping Kate Brannigan thriller, from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller Val McDermid. 'Val McDermid remains unrivalled' Observer Manchester PI Kate Brannigan finds herself with no choice but to take the only case on offer: bodyguarding a paranoid soap star. But the glitzy world of showbusiness has a darker side. And as Kate scratches the surface, she uncovers dramas, threats and bitter rivalries. And when a self-styled 'Seer to the Stars' is murdered, Kate is left with more questions than answers.

A riveting Kate Brannigan thriller, from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller Val McDermid. 'Val McDermid remains unrivalled' Observer Kate Brannigan's having a bad week. Her boyfriend's death notice is in the paper and her plan to catch a team of fraudsters is in disarray. Kate can't even cry on her best friend's shoulder, for Alexis has worries of her own. Her girlfriend's pregnant, and when the doctor responsible for the fertility treatment is murdered, Alexis needs Kate like she's never done before. Delving into the alien world of medical experimentation, Kate confronts betrayal and cold-blooded greed as she fights to save not only her livelihood, but her life as well...

The award-winning and Number One bestselling Val McDermid crafts an electrifying psychological suspense thriller that mixes history, heritage and heinous crimes. A 200 year-old-secret is now a matter of life and death. And it could be worth a fortune. It's summer in the Lake District and heavy rain over the fells has uncovered a bizarrely tattooed body. Could it be linked to the old rumour that Fletcher Christian, mutinous First Mate on the Bounty, had secretly returned to England? Scholar Jane Gresham wants to find out. She believes that the Lakeland poet William Wordsworth, a friend of Christian's, may have sheltered the fugitive and turned his tale into an epic poem - which has since disappeared. But as she follows each lead, death is hard on her heels. The centuries-old mystery is putting lives at risk. And it isn't just the truth that is waiting to be discovered, but a bounty worth millions ...

A riveting psychological thriller from the Number One bestselling Queen of crime fiction - Val McDermid. In the Peak District village of Scardale, thirteen-year-old girls didn't just run away. So when Alison Carter vanished in the winter of '63, everyone knew it was a murder. Catherine Heathcote remembers the case well. A child herself when Alison vanished, decades on she still recalls the sense of fear as parents kept their children close, terrified of strangers. Now a journalist, she persuades DI George Bennett to speak of the hunt for Alison, the tantalizing leads and harrowing dead ends. But when a fresh lead emerges, Bennett tries to stop the story - plunging Catherine into a world of buried secrets and revelations. 'One of the all-time greats - special in every way' Lee Child 'This book changed everything I thought I knew about crime fiction' Belinda Bauer, bestselling author of Snap 'Every now and then, a writer transforms the landscape of the literary canon: Val McDermid is one such writer' Fiona Cummins, bestselling author of Rattle 'Just mesmerizing' Joseph Knox, bestselling author of Sirens 'A brilliant book' Holly Watt, award winning author of To the Lions 'From the first pages, we know we're in the hands of a master ' Jeffrey Deaver 'Beautifully written' Daily Telegraph 'One of the best detective stories I've read' Ruth Rendell 'Possibly the best McDermid has written' Sunday Telegraph Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths and Lynda La Plante.

A gritty, dark tale of infectious disease gone wrong - the timely graphic novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Val McDermid, stunningly illustrated by Kathryn Briggs 'A brilliant and timely story, told with McDermid's verve, style and passion. I couldn't stop turning the pages, even when I could barely take the tension. Wonderful.' Denise Mina It's the summer solstice weekend, and 150,000 people descend on a farm in the northeast of England for an open-air music festival. At first, a spot of rain seems to be the only thing dampening the fun - until a mystery bug appears. Before long, the illness is spreading at an electrifying speed and seems resistant to all antibiotics. Can journalist Zoe Meadows track the outbreak to its source, and will a cure be found before the disease becomes a pandemic? A heart-racing thriller, Resistance imagines a nightmare pandemic that seems only too credible in the wake of COVID-19. Number one bestseller and queen of crime Val McDermid has teamed up with illustrator Kathryn Briggs to create a masterful graphic novel. 'One of today's most accomplished crime writers' Literary Review 'A powerful, unique look at the benign origins of catastrophe' Kirkus Reviews

As inventive as Agatha Christie, as hilarious as P.G. Wodehouse – discover the delightful detective stories of Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best. When young actress Gloria Scott throws herself from Waterloo Bridge, the news sends shockwaves through her film studio. Luckily Gervase Fen is in London to investigate. But when someone acts fast to cover up any evidence – removing all signs of Ms Scott’s identity from her apartment and poisoning a suspicious cameraman – the truth is hard to find…

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died - and who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help justice to be done using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene or the faintest of human traces. Forensics draws on interviews with top-level professionals, ground-breaking research and Val McDermid's own experience to lay bare the secrets of this fascinating science. And, along the way, she wonders at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death, how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist uncovered the victims of a genocide. In her novels, McDermid has been solving complex crimes and confronting unimaginable evil for years. Now, she's looking at the people who do it for real. It's a journey that will take her to war zones, fire scenes and autopsy suites, and bring her into contact with extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

From internationally bestselling author Val McDermid comes a propulsive new Karen Pirie thriller that delves into a historic missing persons case, fake identities, and art forgery DCI Karen Pirie, who finds herself investigating the shadowy world of forgery, where things are never what they seem. When a lobster fisherman discovers a dead body in Scotland's Firth of Forth, Karen is called into investigate. She quickly discovers that the case will require untangling a complicated web--including a historic disappearance, art forgery, and secret identities--that seems to orbit around a painting copyist who can mimic anyone from Holbein to Hockney. Meanwhile, a traffic crash leads to the discovery of a skeleton in a suburban garage. Needless to say, Karen has her plate full. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the death of the love of her life is being released from prison, reopening old wounds just as she was getting back on her feet. Tightly plotted and intensely gripping, Still Life is Val McDermid at her best, and new and longtime readers alike will delight in the latest addition to this superior series.

The Number One bestselling crime series featuring Dr Tony Hill, hero of TV's Wire in the Blood. The award-winning Val McDermid is at the height of her powers in this tense masterclass in psychological suspense. The race is on to uncover the identity of a murderer with nothing to lose - and everything to kill for. When Robbie Bishop, star midfielder for the Bradfield Vics, is poisoned by a rare and deadly toxin, profiler Dr Tony Hill and trusted colleague DCI Carol Jordan have their work cut out for them. Robbie was adored, so the public want answers - but the answers aren't coming, and trails are running cold. Then a bomb explodes in the football stadium, causing massive casualties - and another man dies from poisoning. Is there a link between the cases? And what are the motives for these crimes? The clock is ticking for Tony and Carol - and the death toll keeps rising...

The first woman to be elected First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon's impact on the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom makes her words essential reading. Independently selected by editor Robert Davidson, this collection of speeches from her time as First Minister addresses such crucial matters as the climate crisis, education, human rights and the European Union. Women Hold Up Half the Sky depicts a leader tackling not only immediate, pressing concerns but also mapping out a progressive agenda for the future.