Scottish author Val McDermid continues to raise her own very high bar. This is her first new series in almost 20 years, and it’s an absolute belter right from the beginning. Glasgow reporter Allie Burns is keen to make a mark in her misogynistic newsroom, so when her colleague Danny asks for help on a story linking powerful businessmen to criminal activity, she leaps at the chance. Meanwhile, Allie may have uncovered a homegrown terrorist threat relating to cries in some quarters for Scottish nationalism and independence. Will Allie and Danny’s investigations become career-making stories, career-ending ones, or worse?
Along with seat-edge plotlines, McDermid masterfully immerses readers in late ’70s Glasgow, a time of rising political tensions and a changing society. A compulsive novel that’s further enriched by the echoes of McDermid’s own past as a pioneering journalist battling against prejudice on multiple fronts in that era. Excellent.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Read an article about Past Lying by Val McDermid
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dubbed the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid has sold over 17 million books to date across the globe and is translated into more than 40 languages. She is perhaps best-known for her ‘Wire in the Blood’ series, featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, which was adapted for television starring Robson Green and Hermione Norris.
She has written three other series: private detective Kate Brannigan, journalist Lindsay Gordon and, most recently, cold-case detective Karen Pirie, whose debut appearance in The Distant Echo is soon to become a major ITV series. She has also published in several award-winning standalone novels, books of non-fiction, short story collections and a children’s picture book, My Granny is a Pirate.
1979, the beginning of a new series for Val, featuring journalist Allie Burns, is published on 19th August 2021. She has also published Resistance, a graphic novelisation of her critically acclaimed radio drama, illustrated by Kathryn Briggs, this May.
Val was chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017 and has served as a judge for both the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2018 Man Booker Prize. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She is Visiting Professor in the Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She is an experienced broadcaster and much sought-after columnist and commentator across print media.
Val is also lead vocalist with The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, possibly the only band made up of crime writers ever to play at Glastonbury!
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