Recorded live at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2023

A living legend, a national treasure, and quite simply, one of the greatest writers the crime fiction genre has ever known. Val McDermid is the author of 38 outstanding novels, a body of work unrivalled in the modern age.

She is the creator of several unforgettable protagonists including Lindsay Gordon, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, Kate Brannigan, and most recently, Allie Burns. Several have leapt from page to screen, including the brilliant Karen Pirie who was brought to life in a major ITV series last autumn.

Val’s most recent novel, the spellbinding 1989, is the second in an ambitious series of five books chronicling both the career of Allie Burns and the ever-changing world in which she fights to survive and uncover the truth.

Val McDermid is interviewed by Mark Billingham.

Podcast music by Joseph McDade.