Val McDermid

Author of The Grave Tattoo and The Wire In The Blood.

Val McDermid comes from Kirkcaldy, and was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she was the first student from a state school in Scotland (Kirkcaldy High School), and became President of the Junior Common Room. After graduation, she became a journalist, and had some success as a dramatist. Her first successful novel, Report for Murder, did not appear until 1987.

McDermid's notable characters are a lesbian journalist, Lindsey Gordon; a private investigator, Kate Brannigan; and a psychologist, Tony Hill, who suffers from sexual dysfunction. Her books mainly fall into three series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, and, beginning in 1997, the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. The first book in the latter series, The Mermaids Singing, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. The Hill/Jordan series has been adapted for television under the name Wire in the Blood, featuring Robson Green.

McDermid's work has been described as "Tartan Noir", and her latest book is A Darker Domain.

• Read more about A Darker Domain

Fact file

Name: Val McDermid

Date of birth: 4.6.1955

Place of birth: Kirkcaldy

Current Home: Manchester/Northumberland

Education: St. Hilda's College, Oxford

Similar Authors: Mark Billingham, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson