Val McDermid has written the work for Dundee University’s online forensic investigation course…
It has all the hallmarks of her blockbuster novels – a body on a hill, a mystery about its identity and a forensic expert who can solve it all.
But Val McDermid’s latest bestseller will not be hitting any bookshops after the crime writer penned the words for an online course in forensic investigation for Dundee University.
More than 16,000 people have registered for the free course, called Identifying The Dead: forensic science and human identification, ahead of its launch on Monday. However, organisers expect many more to sign up to discover how the case unfolds. Those who do will spend six weeks searching for clues and piecing the mystery together.
And Then There Were None is a fine book, but in its perfect construction and sly wit The Murder at the Vicarage shows the crime writer at her very best…
The people have spoken. The verdict is in. And Then There Were None has been voted the world’s favourite Agatha Christie novel.
As a fervent believer in democracy I hate to say this, but the world has got it wrong. Yes, the winning title is clever, cunning and compelling. But it’s too improbable for me. It’s the kind of locked-room mystery that I can admire but not love.
my vote still goes to The Murder at the Vicarage
When it comes to the best Christie, as opposed to the most popular, my vote still goes to The Murder at the Vicarage, the novel that introduces the estimable Miss Marple. Written at the height of Christie’s powers, it’s perfectly constructed, packed with red herrings and smart sub-plots; it’s shot through with sly humour; and it’s full of characters who may be stereotypical but whose motivations and responses we recognise, often with a wry smile.
It’s possible I may be biased in my assessment, for it was The Murder at the Vicarage that made me a crime writer.
It is “a matter of time” until Scotland becomes an independent country, crime writer and Yes supporter Val McDermid has declared.
The author said many of those who voted No during last year’s independence referendum were “feeling pretty profoundly betrayed” by events following the historic ballot.
Ms McDermid made the comments during a session with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, drawing heckles from a few audience members.
Ms Sturgeon, a self-confessed “fan girl” of crime fiction, was asking the author about her writing, including her latest novel Splinter the Silence at the sold out event.
It did not take long before the subject of the referendum was raised.
The politician said she had been struck by references to the September 2014 vote in Ms McDermid’s book The Skeleton Road, written in the run-up to the ballot.
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2015
Wednesday 2 September 2015 15.17 BST