Still Life: The heart-pounding number one bestseller from the Queen of Crime

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McDermid knows how to tell a story, how to take all the different threads and weave them into one glorious picture that never could be imagined from the outset.

The Mermaids Singing (1995) (Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year in 1995) [1] The police work is necessarily plodding as Karen and her team must dig for information and sush out clues to take the cases forward but I enjoyed the pace at which everything is revealed. The teamwork between these officers is excellent and I enjoyed the way the author brings Karen's personal life and theirs into the story without being too heavy handed about it. There's enough action and suspense to keep the reader riveted till the exciting conclusion! McDermid comes from a working-class family in Fife. She studied English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, [1] where she was the first student to be admitted from a Scottish state school. [2] Best Movies On Netflix UK 2023: The 30 most highly rated movies to stream on Netflix - including Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse So this is not only my first read in this series, its my first read by Val McDermid! Having finished it Im annoyed with myself that its taken me this long to discover her work.Cross and Burn by Val McDermid: Undiscovered Scotland Book Review". www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk . Retrieved 16 April 2022. At one point, Pirie - who's busy with her other case - sends Jason on a solo mission, which turns out to be a dangerous undertaking.

THE AUTHOR: Val McDermid is a popular Scottish author who was born on June 04, 1955 in Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom. She is particularly famous for writing all her novels in the Mystery, crime and Thriller genres. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Still Life by Val McDermid for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. This book delves into two mysteries. Clues and witnesses have Karen traveling to Paris and Ireland. One case involves a dead body found in a van in a woman’s garage. The other is the murder of a man whose brother went missing 10 years ago. The cases are not connected, but both are easy to follow and are equally interesting.Val McDermid teamed up with illustrator Kathryn Briggs to produce a stunning graphic novel 'Resistance'. It has been included in a list of the 9 Best Graphic Novels of All Time. Read more...

McDermid was a lifelong fan of Raith Rovers football club, her father having worked as a scout for the club. [11] [13] [14] In 2010, she sponsored the McDermid Stand at Stark's Park, the club's ground in Kirkcaldy, in honour of her father. [14] Ruth Lawson (13 December 2012). "Ink thrown at author Val McDermid during Sunderland book signing". Journal Live. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013 . Retrieved 26 December 2012. She also attaches great importance to the archaic and bureaucratic echelons in the force in the sense that everyone below her are plods, and those above are there because of political reasons. The only one good and decent detective is Pirie herself. How tiring.

In her search for the truth, Karen uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years. The first case is the apparent accidental death of a French tourist. It turns out that he is actually the Scottish brother of a high ranking government official who committed suicide 10 years ago. His wife has just been able to declare him legally dead. High ranking police officials want to know if there is any connection to the suicide and possible governmental embarrassment. The prose is sharp and tight. The characters are impulsive, secretive, and greedy. And the plot, including all the subplots, seamlessly intertwine and unravel into a gripping tale full of deception, manipulation, misdirection, mayhem, violence, and murder. Another case is the disappearance ten years ago of Iain Auld, a civil servant with the Scottish government. DCI Karen Pirie is called on to revisit one of her old cases when a fishermen pulls a body from the sea. The dead man was the prime suspect in an old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file and is drawn into a sinister world of betrayal and dark secrets.

McDermid was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 2000, and won the CWA Diamond Dagger for her lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language in 2010. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sunderland in 2011. [4] She is co-founder of the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival and the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, part of the Harrogate International Festivals. In 2016 she captained a team of St Hilda's alumnæ to win the Christmas University Challenge. [5] In 2017, McDermid was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, [6] as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. [7] Work [ edit ]In 2010, she was living between Northumberland and Manchester with publisher Kelly Smith, [33] with whom she had entered into a civil partnership in 2006. [2] Val Mcdermid has been called one of the queens of crime fiction. Not sure why I haven't read more of her work, but after this book, that's going to change. This is the 6th book of the DCI Karen Pirie series. She's tasked with investigating a skeleton found in a van parked in a dead women's garage. Then, when a body was fished out of the waters, it was discovered that he's the brother of a missing Scottish civil servant. He's also the primary suspect in the disappearance 10 years ago. Karen is asked to investigate this disappearance, too. McDermid has been writing as a full time author since the success of her initial novels and she spends equal amounts of time in her homes in Edinburgh and Cheshire. She hails from the Kirkcaldy town of Fife in Scotland and completed her college studies from the St. Hilda’s College in Oxford. Hannah Ellis-Petersen (25 August 2015). "Val McDermid: 'I'm working class – I wouldn't be able to go to Oxford now' ". The Guardian. Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn’t be surprised when an author’s manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime.