Showing results by author "Val McDermid" in All Categories

As a favour, Kate agrees to track down a missing songwriter, Moria Pollock. It was supposed to be a nice simple case, but the search soon leads Kate into the dark underworld of Leeds, Manchester and Bradford – and finally to a shocking confrontation with a killer.

Freelance journalist Lindsay Gordon is strapped for cash. Why else would she agree to cover a fund-raising gala at a girls' public school? But when the star attraction is found garrotted with her own cello string minutes before she is due on stage, Lindsay finds herself investigating a vicious murder. Who would have wanted Lorna Smith Cooper dead? Who had the key to the locked room in which her body was found? And who could have slipped out of the hall at just the right time to commit this calculated and cold-blooded crime?

When torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, old wives' tales also come swirling to the surface. For centuries Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem.

Der erste Cold Case für DCI Karen Pirie. Eine eisige Winternacht im schottischen Universitätsstädtchen St. Andrews, 1978: Im dichten Schneetreiben wollen vier Studenten auf dem Heimweg von ihrer Stammkneipe eine Abkürzung nehmen - und stolpern auf dem alten keltischen Friedhof über die blutüberströmte Leiche der Kellnerin Rosie Duff. Obwohl ihnen die Polizei nichts nachweisen kann, geraten Alex Gilbey und seine Freunde unter Mordverdacht, der Fall bleibt ungelöst.

Manchester-based private eye Kate Brannigan thought it would be safe to let her boyfriend help out with her investigation. But now he’s behind bars and she’s been left caring for his eight-year-old son. Soon Kate finds herself drawn into the world of drug traffickers, child pornographers and violent gangland enforcers – bringing her face to face with death in the most terrifying investigation of her career.

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three bosom companions–a healer, a weaver and a seer. If the men hunting her find them, they will kill her because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. Shakespeare fed us the myth of the Macbeths as power-hungry murderous conspirators. But now Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history.

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: how they lived, how they died--and who killed them. Val McDermid uncovers the secrets of forensic medicine with groundbreaking research and her own experience. Along the way you’ll wonder at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death and how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer.

Jane Austens "Northanger Abbey" neu verfasst von Krimimeisterin Val McDermid. Lesen ist gefährlich! Zu gern verliert die 17-jährige Pfarrerstochter Cat Morland sich in der Welt der Bücher und träumt von aufregenden Abenteuern, die sie in ihrer Heimat im ländlichen Piddle Valley leider niemals finden wird. Zum Glück darf sie zu einem Kulturfestival nach Edinburgh reisen, wo sie sich in den jungen, aufstrebenden Rechtsanwalt Henry Tilney verliebt.

Spraining an ankle is rarely a stroke of luck, but for Lindsay Gordon, jobless in Glasgow, the injury is her introduction to young freelance journalist Rory McLaren and the opening of a new chapter in her life. Rory's invitation to work alongside her in her booth at the Cafe Virginia is irresistible. From there it is just a short step to political corruption and other juicy stories - all welcome distractions from Lindsay's problems at home, where her long-term lover, Sophie, has decided to heed the ticking of her biological clock and get pregnant.

When Alison Maxwell, a well-known Glaswegian journalist with an irresistible sexual attraction to both sexes, is found murdered the police look no further than the owner of the scarf used to strangle her. Lindsay Gordon, however, has other ideas. Maxwell was a serial seductress who kept a secret record of her encounters – including one with Lindsay herself. Recalling the threats that followed the end of the relationship, Lindsay knows all too well the feelings of rage, fear and passion that Alison Maxwell could invoke.

Why would anyone want to kill Penny Varnavides, best-selling author of the Teen Dreams series? Her demise can't be the freak accident it first appeared - it's an exact replica of the murder method in her forthcoming book. Only three people knew the plot of Penny's unpublished novel: her literary agent, her editor and her ex-girlfriend, Meredith. In an effort to clear Meredith, Lindsay Gordon delves beneath the glittering facade of the seemingly glamorous world of London publishing in search of a murderer.

A protest group hits the headlines when unrest at a women's peace camp explodes into murder. Already on the scene, journalist Lindsay Gordon desperately tries to strike a balance between personal and professional responsibilities. As she peels back the layers of deception surrounding the protest and its opponents, she finds that no one - ratepayer or reporter, policeman or peace woman - seems wholly above suspicion. Then Lindsay uncovers a truth that even she can scarcely believe....

The fourth in the series featuring investigative journalist Lindsay Gordon. Leaving her new home in California for a trade union conference in Sheffield, Lindsay Gordon finds herself in the company of old friends - and enemies, including Tom Jack. When this unethical union leader is found dead, having catapulted out of Lindsay’s tenth-floor hotel room, she is taken in for questioning by the police.

In My Scotland, number one best-selling author Val McDermid takes readers to the landscapes she has known all her life and the places where her stories and characters reside. This remarkable book uncovers Val's own Scotland in all its glory - from the iconic Isle of Skye to the majestic streets of Edinburgh, from the undiscovered hideaways of the Highlands to the wild and untamed Jura. Featuring excerpts from Val McDermid's best-selling novels and charting Karen Pirie's Fife to Lindsay Gordon's Glasgow, My Scotland is an unforgettable and uniquely personal journey.

Der erste Teil der erfolgreichen Thriller-Serie um das Ermittlerduo Carol Jordan und Tony Hill beginnt mit dem Fund von vier männlichen Leichen in Yorkshire. Diese Entdeckung ist selbst für das hartgesottene Team der Mord-Kommission ein Schock: Offenbar wurden die Opfer vor ihrer Ermordung mit mittelalterlichen Folter-Instrumenten gequält und verstümmelt. Obwohl alles nach der Tat eines Serienkillers aussieht, besteht der Superintendent darauf, dass die Morde getrennt voneinander untersucht werden.

In McDermids neuntem Thriller um das Ermittleduo Hill/Jordan ist der Polizeipsychologe Tony Hill mit einer mysteriösen Serie von Selbstmorden konfrontiert. Stets sind es Frauen, die mitten im Leben stehen, mit ihren prononcierten Meinungen jedoch einen Shitstorm von Internet-Trollen hervorgerufen und diesen offenbar nicht verkraftet haben. Merkwürdig nur, dass sie alle den Freitod berühmter Schriftstellerinnen wie Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf oder Anne Sexton imitieren und sich deren Werke jeweils in der Nähe der Toten finden.

Um die Wahrheit ans Licht zu bringen, muss sie sich ins Herz der Finsternis wagen: "1979 – Jägerin und Gejagte" ist der erste Fall für Investigativ-Journalistin Allie Burns von Bestseller-Autorin Val McDermid. Schneestürme, Stromausfälle, Streiks und ungeklärte Todesfälle: Der Winter 1979 beschert Schottland ein Debakel nach dem anderen. Für die junge Journalistin Allie Burns sind schlechte Nachrichten jedoch die einzige Chance, über etwas anderes als Familiendramen und Babywunder zu berichten und vom "Boys' Club" der Zeitung endlich ernst genommen zu werden.

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous. These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.

Vor Jahren verschwand in Edinburgh die Studentin Lara Hardie vor ihrer eigenen Haustür – bis heute gibt es keine brauchbaren Spuren, keine Hinweise, keine Leiche. Bis der Anruf einer Bibliothekarin DCI Karen Pirie einen rätselhaften neuen Fall beschert: Im Nachlass eines kürzlich verstorbenen Schriftstellers wurde ein Manuskript gefunden, dessen Handlung erschreckende Ähnlichkeit mit dem Cold Case der vermissten Studentin aufweist. Das Manuskript scheint der Schlüssel zu sein, um endlich herauszufinden, was mit Lara Hardie geschehen ist.

Fall Nr. 10 für Val McDermids berühmtes Ermittler-Duo: Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan und Profiler Tony Hill jagen den "Wedding Killer"! Eine verkohlte Leiche in einem ausgebrannten Auto - das ist alles, was von der unauffälligen Büroangestellten Kathryn McCormick übrig ist. Erst vor kurzem hatte sie auf einer Hochzeit einen attraktiven Mann kennengelernt und auf neues Glück nach einer herben Enttäuschung gehofft. DCI Carol Jordan und Profiler Tony Hill versuchen den Mann ausfindig zu machen, müssen aber feststellen, dass keiner der anderen Hochzeitsgäste ihn kannte.