Skeleton Road

Val McDermid is an international number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than forty languages. Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for TV and radio, most notably the Wire in the Blood series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan. The Karen Pirie novels have now been adapted for a major ITV series.Val has been chair of the judges for the Wellcome Book Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize, and has served as a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker Prize and the Royal Society Book Prize. She is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is a visiting professor in the Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Among her many awards are the CWA Diamond Dagger recognising lifetime achievement and the Theakston's Old Peculier award for Outstanding Contribution to Crime Writing. Val is also an experienced broadcaster and much-sought-after columnist and commentator across print media.www.valmcdermid.comInstagram @quineofcrime

Val McDermid, what a diva of crime! ... an acute and credible psychological thriller - Sunday Examiner on The Vanishing PointAs ever, McDermid's gift for taking ordinary, everyday events and giving them a sinister twist, plus her keen observations of human nature, make for a truly gripping tale - Sunderland Echo on Cross and Burn