Dates for your Diary
 

• 4 September 2008 - publication of A Darker Domain in the UK
   
• 26 November 2008 - New Writing North Event (see below)
   
• 4 December 2008 - New Writing North Event (see below)
   
• December 2008 - Val will be getting her head down writing so won't be out and about much!
  
  More dates coming soon.....
   

November 2008

November 2008

Val says...

I've always said that writing is a process of challenge and change. Now it's time for me to stand by my own maxim. After fifteen years, I'm moving publishers in the UK from HarperCollins to Little, Brown. It's been one of the hardest decisions of my professional life, but the bottom line is that I feel HarperCollins just hasn't been delivering the sales results I feel my books merit. For me, this is a time of mixed feelings. I'm excited at the prospect of working with a very dynamic team at Little, Brown, but inevitably I'm sad to part company with Julia Wisdom, who has been my editor for seventeen years and seventeen books. There's no better editor in London than Julia and she's a significant part of the reason I'm the writer I am today.

HarperCollins will publish the paperback of A DARKER DOMAIN in February 2009, but the new book, THE FEVER OF THE BONE will be published later in 2009 by Little, Brown. THE FEVER OF THE BONE is the sixth novel to feature clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan, and yet again it takes them into uncharted waters. I've started work on it, and so far it seems to be taking me into uncharted waters too!

November 2008

It's been a busy summer and autumn for me. In August I paid my regular visits to the Edinburgh Book Festival and the St Hilda's Crime & Mystery conference in Oxford. I particularly enjoyed St Hilda's this year. The theme was 'Past into Present', and it gave me the chance to examine those of my novels that use a split time frame THE MERMAIDS SINGING, A PLACE OF EXECUTION, THE DISTANT ECHO, THE GRAVE TATTOO and A DARKER DOMAIN. I was able to discuss how I'd worked out the structure for each book, the particular problems each had raised and how I had resolved them. It was interesting for me to look back at what I'd done in each case, because when I'm in the thick of it, I don't tend to be terribly conscious of the technical choices I'm making, it's much more about figuring out how to tell a particular story. It's only afterwards that I can see what I've done and understand why I've done it. Reasoning backwards, as so much writing often is....

Download Val's entire newsletter (.doc 44KB)

September 2008

On a freezing December night in 1963 a 13-year-old
girl vanished without trace - the mystery was never solved. More than 40 years later, the dramatic events surrounding the disappearance and the hunt for the killer resurface when a high-flying TV journalist makes a documentary about the case. But what she finds will shatter the past – and the lives of everyone involved...

Starts Monday 22nd September 2008 - ITV 1

Click here for more information (external site itv.com)

August 2008

From 'The Mystery Bookshelf'
How do you choose what mystery books to read? One of my most successful methods is to critically assess the numerous awards given throughout the year by different associations. Knowing that awards can be very political, I look at the breadth of a book’s accomplishment, i.e. how many nominations did it win, rather than the number of awards it won. I figure that if a book has been nominated for at least four awards, it must be a very good mystery. Over the years, my “system” has never failed me. Every book has been truly satisfying, and nearly every book on this list is one the best mysteries that I have ever read.

Click here to view a list of award winning mysteries since 2000

August 2008

ITV3's Crime Thriller Awards Season: seven weeks of programming celebrating the genre in books, film and TV, culminating in the Crime Thriller Awards in October.

Val is one of only six international bestsellling authors featured by ITV3 Crime Awards Season and an hour long show with Val will be shown on ITV3 Monday 25 August and every night that week re-runs of Wire In the Blood will be shown in the same evening slot. Following that will be ITV1 new series of Wire In the Blood in September and later in the autumn will be a major 3-part ITV1 drama based on her novel A Place Of Execution starring Juliet Stevenson and Greg Wise. The R&J Crime Awards Event will be screened on 3 October on ITV3.

Val says. "The other main project was the making of a documentary about my writing life as part of the ITV3 Crime Awards event this autumn. They've made six hour-long documentaries about six individual crime writers. Each week, beginning on 18th August, they will show a documentary followed by a week of that particular writer's TV adaptations. My week begins on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25 th, with my documentary going out at 8pm on ITV3 (check the listings - that time may change!) We had a lot of fun making the film - you'll have the good fortune to see some of the beautiful coast and countryside where I live, which will be a lot easier on the eye than me... Best fun was probably trying to squash an entire film crew plus equipment into my wife's Land Rover because we only had permission to take one vehicle all the way up to Dunstanburgh Castle. The producer, jammed with his assistant in the middle of the front seat, turned very pale when I spoke of engaging four-wheel drive.

You can find out more about this new clutch of awards at: http://www.itv.com/Drama/copsandcrime/ITV3CrimeThrillerSeason/default.html

Among the awards is one for the best British crime writer whose works have been adapted for TV. I'm up for this against a very strong field of contenders; to be honest, I'd struggle to pick a winner from this lot. So when the voting opens later this month, I hope you'll all cast your votes for your personal favourites. Naturally, I hope it will be me and Wire in the Blood, but don't worry, we won't ban you from the newsletter if you don't vote for us!

I'm very excited by the ITV3 Crime Awards. I know their viewers love the genre, and I know from experience that a lot of my readers have discovered my books because they saw Wire in the Blood on TV. I think it's a perfect marriage - a channel committed to showing the very best of crime drama recognising the writers whose ideas feed the material their viewers enjoy most. There's a wide range of categories in the awards, and I'm sure that they will introduce readers to writers whose work they'd not come across before. And that's got to be good for both the readers and the writers."

This is the trailer ad that ITV have been running for the Crime and Thriller Award season.  Thought you might like to see it, if you haven't caught it on TV (or can't get ITV3 from where you are) here is a link...
 
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Media/Crime_Thr_60_Comi.mov     

August 2008

I began July working on the script for a two-part BBC Radio4 series called FROM THE BAN TO THE BOOKER. It's been 80 years since THE WELL OF LONELINESS was banned by the courts for obscenity. Frankly, I'm with Virginia Woolf, who pointed out that the book was so dull it could have contained the most scurrilous material without there being any risk of anyone impressionable getting far enough in to find it. But nevertheless, it's a landmark in the literary landscape and given the significance of lesbian writers in the field of contemporary British fiction, I thought it would be interesting to trace the line of descent from 1928 to the present. I got to interview a stellar array of writers whose work has meant a lot to me - Sarah Waters, Jeanette Winterson, Ann Bannon, Lilian Faderman and Manda Scott, among others - and had the chance to discuss my own theories with people who actually know what they're talking about. The programmes go out on Monday 11 th and 18 th of August at 11am on Radio 4. You can listen online at http://www.bbc.co.uk, listen again via the BBC iPlayer or website and download it at BBC iPlayer to listen at a time that suits you. I'll be talking about the series with Jenni Murray on Woman's Hour on Wednesday August 6th. The show goes out at 10am on BBC Radio 4 - again, you can catch it online if you can't hear it live on the radio.

August 2008

• BBC R4 series trailed on Woman's Hour
• ITV3 Crime Awards and documentary
• Wire in the Blood VI
• A Place of Execution TV adaptation
• A DARKER DOMAIN UK publication
• Diary dates

It's been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and bring you all up to date with what's been going on. The main reason for that is that I've been so busy, partly because I started the year with a debilitating dose of flu, followed by a couple of opportunistic chest infections and a dental abscess, all of which cost me the first six weeks of 2008. And those were the six weeks when I was supposed to be finishing A DARKER DOMAIN... So by the time I got back to the book, I had to contend with all the other commitments in the diary that were predicated on me having finished the book when it was due. In the end, a lot of this book was written in far from ideal conditions - trains, planes and hotel rooms. But the reaction I've had from those who have read advance copies has been extremely positive, so perhaps I've discovered yet another piece in the constantly expanding jigsaw of process. This book feels very personal to me and I've written a short piece talking about the background, which you can find here: http://www.valmcdermid.com/pages/books/darker.html.

Download the whole newsletter (.doc 40KB)

August 2008

Before I knew it, it was time for the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, sponsored by Theakstons, who also support the Theakstons' Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year prize, an award I picked up a couple of years ago for THE TORMENT OF OTHERS. This year, I was invited to chair the panel of judges who decide, along with the votes of thousands of readers, who will carry off this coveted prize. It was a touch decision, given the quality of the dozen books on the shortlist, but in the end, the decision to give the TOP prize to Stef Penney for THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES was unanimous. Our decision landed us in the middle of the latest 'literary fiction versus genre fiction' debate. Stef Penney's wonderful novel had already won the Costa Book of the Year prize (formerly the Whitbread) which is unequivocally seen as a literary prize. But it's a novel whose events are set in train by a murder, which centres round the various investigations of that crime and which ends with a resolution of that crime. Seems to me that's pretty much the definition of a crime novel. The fact that it's beautifully written doesn't exclude it from the canon of crime fiction, although that seemed to be the attitude of at least one journalist who accused me of leading the judges in a 'land grab' to make our genre respectable. Nothing could have been further from the truth of what happened in the judges' room. But now that Tom Rob Smith's CHILD 44 has made it to the Man Booker shortlist, I'm sure the carping isn't going to stop. I'm reminded of a comment made by my friend Laura Lippman, who once said that literary fiction is always judged on its best exemplars, while genre fiction is judged on its worst. This isn't a new discussion, and I'm sure it won't be the last time it rears its head, but I will keep on saying that the best of contemporary crime writing can stand shoulder to shoulder with any kind of novel.

Harrogate wasn't all about the Theakston's prize, though. I had enormous fun as part of the balloon debate on Friday evening - a very strange event where Mark Lawson from BBC R4's Front Row presided over half a dozen crime writers representing six dead giants of the genre and trying to justify their place in an imaginary hot air balloon that was losing height by the minute. Probably the strangest experience was seeing Stuart MacBride with a raven sock puppet sounding like Peter Lorre channelling Edgar Allan Poe. Thought I have to confess I never imagined when I took up crime writing that one day I would be standing on a stage with a 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON tote bag on my head impersonating Agatha Christie (who came out sounding weirdly like the Queen...) The things we do to amuse our audience.

On a more serious note, we also had a fascinating debate on the issue of whether women or men write the most graphic violence. Unlike the ruck that the media created last summer between myself and Ian Rankin, this was a serious conversation that generated more light than heat. I'm indebted in particular to Mark Billingham whose intelligent and measured approach made it possible to have a meaningful discussion about something that exercises every one of us who takes seriously the work they do in this genre.

Apart from that, though, it was Harrogate as usual. Stimulating conversations, too much food and drink, too many late nights and too little time for bridge left me exhausted but high as a kite. I love Harrogate. I love the chance it gives me to catch up with writers I admire such as Robert Crais, Natasha Cooper, Allan Guthrie and Steve Mosby. There's nowhere like it, nothing like it anywhere else in the crime fiction calendar. The energy, the good humour and the information imparted are unrivalled. We all still have so much to learn - I 'taught' a masterclass with screen writer Stuart Hepburn, and I genuinely felt I got as much out of it as the audience. It's great to come away from a weekend like this bursting with rekindled enthusiasm.

Photo: Harrogate alumni Jane Gregory, Laura Wilson, Simon Kernick, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham. Picture by Ali Karim

May 2008

Val McDermid at Brighton Festival
City Reads
 
One book. One city. One big reading adventure.
 
Join best-selling crime writer Val McDermid for the compelling conclusion to City Reads 2008, a three-month collective read of her chilling modern crime classic A Place of Execution .
 
Creator of the gripping Wire in the Blood series and winner of the prestigious Gold Dagger award, Val McDermid is one of the world's leading crime writers. A Place of Execution is a taut psychological suspense thriller.
 
In this special event, Val McDermid discusses the book and all things crime with fellow writer and Observer crime critic Peter Guttridge. For crime lovers and City Reads participants alike.
www.cityreads.co.uk < http://www.cityreads.co.uk/ >

Sat 17 May, 2pm
Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome
Tickets: £7.50
Tel: 01273 709709

Hear how Val McDermid feels to have been chosen as this year's author http://www.thedeckchair.org.uk/page_id__329_path__.aspx

March 2008

British Book Awards 2008
Val is up for a Crime/thriller award for The Grave Tattoo She is on a shortlist with Lee Child, Patricia Cornwall, James Lee Burke and Ian Rankin.

If you enjoyed The Grave Tattoo go online and vote for Val... You could win £1,000 or a Book Token!

http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk/