Val McDermid
Appeared: 18 June
Dubbed the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid has sold over 16 million books to date across the globe and is translated into over 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.
Val was born in Kirkcaldy, a coastal town in the heart of the Scottish mining community. She graduated in English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford - the first from a Scottish state school to do so - before going on to be an award winning journalist for sixteen years.
A regular broadcaster with BBC Radio, Val has written dramas and presented programmes on Radio 4. Val has fronted features for BBC Two’s The Culture Show and appeared on a huge variety of TV shows from Question Time to Have I Got News For You. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Grand Prix des Romans D’Aventure, the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011, the Stonewall Writer of the Year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award.
Still Life, Val McDermid’s latest thriller, featuring Karen Pirie, is published by Little, Brown on 20th August 2020.
Appeared: 18 June
Dubbed the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid has sold over 16 million books to date across the globe and is translated into over 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.
Val was born in Kirkcaldy, a coastal town in the heart of the Scottish mining community. She graduated in English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford - the first from a Scottish state school to do so - before going on to be an award winning journalist for sixteen years.
A regular broadcaster with BBC Radio, Val has written dramas and presented programmes on Radio 4. Val has fronted features for BBC Two’s The Culture Show and appeared on a huge variety of TV shows from Question Time to Have I Got News For You. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Grand Prix des Romans D’Aventure, the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011, the Stonewall Writer of the Year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award.
Still Life, Val McDermid’s latest thriller, featuring Karen Pirie, is published by Little, Brown on 20th August 2020.
Independent Bookshop Spotlight on...
Toppings
2 Blenheim Place
Edinburgh
email: [email protected]
Phone: 0131 546 4202
Website: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/edinburgh/
Topping & Company Booksellers of Edinburgh opened in September 2019 - and at over 4,000 sq. feet it is the largest independent bookshop to open in the country for decades. With its handcrafted bookcases, signature rolling library ladders, and space for 70,000 titles on the shelves, the bookshop has received a very warm welcome from Edinburgh’s literary scene. It offers an exceptional browsing experience, with complimentary pots of fresh tea and coffee and plenty of friendly, bookish advice. Topping & Company are also well known for their exciting and varied book festivals which run all year round.
The bookshop situated at 2 Blenheim Place, Edinburgh, a Grade A listed William Playfair building. Pevsner wrote of the building, "it is so curious and extravagant that the wonder is that it was built at all."
How to order from Topping & Company at the moment:
Search the full catalogue online: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/catalogue/
The bookshop is posting out orders every day, and also offering contact-less collection between 5-6pm every week day, and 2-6pm on Saturdays. Posting is just £2, or free for orders over £50.
Val says of Toppings, ' I love everything about it -- the space, the extraordinary range of stock, the coffee, the beauty of the space, the friendly staff, their support of writers, and the way they've kept us all supplied during lockdown. I've known Robert Topping since he was manager of Waterstones in Manchester 25 years ago, and he remains one of the most visionary of booksellers.'
Toppings says, 'Val McDermid is one of the bookshop's most faithful friends and we're delighted to be chosen as her favourite. We are also lucky to have signed copies of lots of Val's books to share with our readers!'
Titles by Val worth checking out which you can order from Toppings include:
The Mermaids Singing
The Distant Echo
A Place of Execution
How the Dead Speak
Imagine a Country
You can order via this link.
2 Blenheim Place
Edinburgh
email: [email protected]
Phone: 0131 546 4202
Website: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/edinburgh/
Topping & Company Booksellers of Edinburgh opened in September 2019 - and at over 4,000 sq. feet it is the largest independent bookshop to open in the country for decades. With its handcrafted bookcases, signature rolling library ladders, and space for 70,000 titles on the shelves, the bookshop has received a very warm welcome from Edinburgh’s literary scene. It offers an exceptional browsing experience, with complimentary pots of fresh tea and coffee and plenty of friendly, bookish advice. Topping & Company are also well known for their exciting and varied book festivals which run all year round.
The bookshop situated at 2 Blenheim Place, Edinburgh, a Grade A listed William Playfair building. Pevsner wrote of the building, "it is so curious and extravagant that the wonder is that it was built at all."
How to order from Topping & Company at the moment:
Search the full catalogue online: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/catalogue/
The bookshop is posting out orders every day, and also offering contact-less collection between 5-6pm every week day, and 2-6pm on Saturdays. Posting is just £2, or free for orders over £50.
Val says of Toppings, ' I love everything about it -- the space, the extraordinary range of stock, the coffee, the beauty of the space, the friendly staff, their support of writers, and the way they've kept us all supplied during lockdown. I've known Robert Topping since he was manager of Waterstones in Manchester 25 years ago, and he remains one of the most visionary of booksellers.'
Toppings says, 'Val McDermid is one of the bookshop's most faithful friends and we're delighted to be chosen as her favourite. We are also lucky to have signed copies of lots of Val's books to share with our readers!'
Titles by Val worth checking out which you can order from Toppings include:
The Mermaids Singing
The Distant Echo
A Place of Execution
How the Dead Speak
Imagine a Country
You can order via this link.
Theatre Spotlight on...
Royal Lyceum
30b Grindlay Street
Edinburgh EH3 9AX
Website: https://lyceum.org.uk/
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Company is Scotland’s leading producing theatre, led by Artistic Director David Greig. With a strong reputation for excellence in both classical and contemporary work The Lyceum is committed to developing Scotland’s considerable indigenous talents while presenting the best of international drama. The Company rehearses in its own rooms opposite the theatre, and costumes and sets are designed and built at The Lyceum’s workshops in Roseburn.
Val says of the Royal Lyceum, 'The Old Lady of Grindlay Street was the first proper theatre I ever visited and it was exactly what I imagined a theatre should be -- gilt and velvet, tiers of seats, exclusive boxes and a vast stage. Great perfomances too! I've since been in many different styles of theatre, but my heart still beats faster when the curtain rises at the Lyceum.'
30b Grindlay Street
Edinburgh EH3 9AX
Website: https://lyceum.org.uk/
The Royal Lyceum Theatre Company is Scotland’s leading producing theatre, led by Artistic Director David Greig. With a strong reputation for excellence in both classical and contemporary work The Lyceum is committed to developing Scotland’s considerable indigenous talents while presenting the best of international drama. The Company rehearses in its own rooms opposite the theatre, and costumes and sets are designed and built at The Lyceum’s workshops in Roseburn.
Val says of the Royal Lyceum, 'The Old Lady of Grindlay Street was the first proper theatre I ever visited and it was exactly what I imagined a theatre should be -- gilt and velvet, tiers of seats, exclusive boxes and a vast stage. Great perfomances too! I've since been in many different styles of theatre, but my heart still beats faster when the curtain rises at the Lyceum.'
Library Spotlight on...
Kirkcaldy Galleries
War Memorial Gardens
Kirkcaldy KY1 1YG
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01592 583206
Website: https://www.onfife.com/venues/kirkcaldy-galleries
Kirkcaldy Galleries offers visitors a library, museum, art gallery, local & family history room, cafe, gift shop and children's areas - all under one roof and with FREE admission! Kirkcaldy Galleries opened in June 2013 following a major £2.5 million refurbishment undertaken by Fife Council. This historic museum was first opened in 1925 as part of the town's War Memorial, with the library extension being added in 1928.
Val says, 'My favourite library is a tie between the children's library in the Kirkcaldy Galleries and the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. The well-stocked shelves of Kirkcaldy Central Library were where I discovered the myriad worlds outside my narrow window. I learned to love the escape books offered and I also discovered that writing was an actual job you could be paid for. The Radcliffe Camera was where I spent hundreds of hours as a student. It fulfils the dream of a library -- long tables radiating from a central desk, tall shelves crammed with books, a hushed atmosphere and access to all the books that are contained in the miles of stacks of the Bodleian Library, of which is is a part.'
War Memorial Gardens
Kirkcaldy KY1 1YG
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01592 583206
Website: https://www.onfife.com/venues/kirkcaldy-galleries
Kirkcaldy Galleries offers visitors a library, museum, art gallery, local & family history room, cafe, gift shop and children's areas - all under one roof and with FREE admission! Kirkcaldy Galleries opened in June 2013 following a major £2.5 million refurbishment undertaken by Fife Council. This historic museum was first opened in 1925 as part of the town's War Memorial, with the library extension being added in 1928.
Val says, 'My favourite library is a tie between the children's library in the Kirkcaldy Galleries and the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. The well-stocked shelves of Kirkcaldy Central Library were where I discovered the myriad worlds outside my narrow window. I learned to love the escape books offered and I also discovered that writing was an actual job you could be paid for. The Radcliffe Camera was where I spent hundreds of hours as a student. It fulfils the dream of a library -- long tables radiating from a central desk, tall shelves crammed with books, a hushed atmosphere and access to all the books that are contained in the miles of stacks of the Bodleian Library, of which is is a part.'
Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG
Email: [email protected]
Oxford’s libraries are among the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which have remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Libraries in the Bodleian Libraries group include major research libraries, libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions of the University and, of course, the principal University library – the Bodleian Library – which has been a library of legal deposit for 400 years.
The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. Together, the Bodleian Libraries hold over 13 million printed items. First opened to scholars in 1602, it incorporates an earlier library built by the University in the 15th century to house books donated by Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. Since 1602 it has expanded, slowly at first but with increasing momentum over the last 150 years, to keep pace with the ever-growing accumulation of books, papers and other materials, but the core of the old buildings has remained intact.
For more information on current projects, visit here.
The Bodleian says, '“The Bodleian is utterly delighted to be chosen as Val's favourite library. The Radcliffe Camera is a place beloved of students working hard for exams and powering through essay crises, but it has also inspired many literary journeys over the centuries. We are honoured that it holds such a special place in Val's heart (and hope she’ll come back and write her next book in the Rad Cam).'
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG
Email: [email protected]
Oxford’s libraries are among the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which have remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Libraries in the Bodleian Libraries group include major research libraries, libraries attached to faculties, departments and other institutions of the University and, of course, the principal University library – the Bodleian Library – which has been a library of legal deposit for 400 years.
The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. Together, the Bodleian Libraries hold over 13 million printed items. First opened to scholars in 1602, it incorporates an earlier library built by the University in the 15th century to house books donated by Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. Since 1602 it has expanded, slowly at first but with increasing momentum over the last 150 years, to keep pace with the ever-growing accumulation of books, papers and other materials, but the core of the old buildings has remained intact.
For more information on current projects, visit here.
The Bodleian says, '“The Bodleian is utterly delighted to be chosen as Val's favourite library. The Radcliffe Camera is a place beloved of students working hard for exams and powering through essay crises, but it has also inspired many literary journeys over the centuries. We are honoured that it holds such a special place in Val's heart (and hope she’ll come back and write her next book in the Rad Cam).'