Queen of Crime Val McDermid talks about the evolution of the genre and her writing process, and encourages you to say hello to her at Slaughter in Southwold.
Val McDermid, known as the Queen of Crime, is one of the biggest names in crime writing. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, over 15 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide, and she has won and been nominated for several awards over her 30-year career. Val's books include four main series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, and Karen Pirie. Her latest novel is Broken Ground and her next book, How the Dead Speak, is due out in August. You can see Val in person at Slaughter in Southwold in June.
An eclectic mix that included Robert Louis Stevenson, the Chalet School books, Agatha Christie, the Moomintrolls and Batman comics.
The genre has burst its banks and expanded in all directions. Crime novels in the UK used to be village mysteries or Home Counties police procedurals, but now they encompass all sorts of storytelling, every social stratum and a wide range of investigators. Any story you want to tell can fit in the broad church of crime.
More or less like the previous 32... It started with a small idea that I played with over a couple of years, experimenting in my head with what might fit with it and how it might play out. And figuring out whose stories fitted in and how. Then I sit down and start to write and about halfway through I decide that this is the worst pile of stinking rubbish I have ever written and this time I will be found out. But I grit my teeth and somehow make it to the end.
Ali Smith's Spring, Helen Fitzgerald's Worst Case Scenario and Haylen Beck's Lost You.
Don't be shy about saying hello when you come to get your book signed!
I think you should be telling me what to expect! Me, I'll be talking about my work with my usual enthusiasm.
My first broadcast quiz show was Television Top of the Form in 1969.
