Showing results by author "Val McDermid" in All Categories

Five-year-old Jimmy Higgins is brazenly snatched from the middle of a busy airport; but this is no ordinary kidnapping. Jimmy’s mother is Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer, entrusted the boy to her friend Stephanie Harker. Now Stephanie, reaching into the past to discover the motive behind the abduction, soon encounters a shocking tale of murder and conspiracy, and is faced by the most difficult choice of her life.

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 Only three people knew the plot of Penny's unpublished novel: her literary agent, her editor and her ex-girlfriend, Meredith.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.

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.

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.

The Sounds of Crime is an exclusive collection of five brand new short stories by some of the best crimewriters around. Using the theme of 'audio', this unique collection features brand new stories by Lawrence Block, Peter James, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham and Christopher Fowler.

Legendary editor, Maxim Jakubowski, delivers another chilling anthology collecting stories of cold-blooded murder, revenge and crimes-gone-wrong from the best of the best in crime fiction. Spine-chilling and gripping, these tales will grip you with their devious narrators and crafty twists.

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.

Ein gefährlicher Psychopath will Rache: Gnadenlos spannender Thriller von Bestseller-Autorin Val McDermid! Bisher galt das Hochsicherheitsgefängnis als absolut ausbruchsicher. Doch nach zwölf Jahren Haft gelingt Jacko Vance, einem perfiden Mädchenmörder, durch eine raffinierte, lange geplante Täuschung die Flucht. Jacko ist besessen von einem einzigen Gedanken: gnadenlose Rache – an allen, die ihn hinter Schloss und Riegel gebracht haben.

The Moonstone, a yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple and believed to bring bad luck to its owner, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That very night the priceless stone is stolen again and when Sergeant Cuff is brought in to investigate the crime, he soon realizes that no one in Rachel's household is above suspicion.

A vicar nailed to a tree in Yorkshire. The theft of a priceless artefact during a fire. A detective forced to tell the truth for 24 hours. A body hidden in a basement. From the restless streets of London to the wilds of the Lake District, displaying all his trademark humour, playfulness and clever plotting, this landmark collection brings together the very best of Reginald Hill’s short stories for the first time, complete with a foreword from Val McDermid.

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.

It's the summer solstice weekend, and 150,000 people have descended on a farm in the northeast of England for an open-air music festival. Reporting on the event is journalist Zoe Meadows, who files her copy from a food van run by her friends Sam and Lisa. When some of Sam's customers get sick, it looks like food poisoning, and it's exacerbated by the mud, rain and inadequate sanitary facilities. It's assumed to be a 24-hour thing until people get home and discover strange skin lesions, which ulcerate and turn septic. More people start getting ill - and dying.

Meet Tony Hill's most twisted adversary - a killer with a shopping list of victims, a killer unmoved by youth and innocence, a killer driven by the most perverted of desires. The murder and mutilation of teenager Jennifer Maidment is horrific enough on its own.

‘Death is a hollow drum whose beat has measured out my adult life.’ So writes Jay Macallan Stewart in her latest volume of memoirs. But nobody has ever asked whether that has been by accident or design. Nobody, that is, until Jay turns her sights on newly-wed and freshly-widowed Magda Newsam. For Magda’s mother Corinna is an Oxford don who knows enough of Jay’s history to be very afraid indeed. Determined to protect her daughter, Corinna turns to clinical psychologist Charlie Flint.

Winter is the time to snuggle indoors without guilt; to curl up on the sofa with a good book or a box set, a hot drink or a wee whisky to hand. Val McDermid has always had a soft spot for winter: the bitter clarity of a crisp cold day, the vivid skies over the Firth of Forth, the crunch of frost on fallen leaves and the chance to be enveloped in big jumpers and thick socks.

Ein betrunkener Siebzehnjähriger rast nachts mit einem gestohlenen Auto durch Dundee. Für seine drei Kumpels endet die Fahrt tödlich. Der Hooligan überlebt - im Koma, für immer schwer gezeichnet. Überraschend fördert ein Routine-DNA-Test eine Verbindung zu einem zwanzig Jahre zurückliegenden, ungelösten Mordfall zutage. Wie kann das sein? Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie von Police Scotland ist sehr erfolgreich darin, verzwickte alte Fälle aufzuklären. Doch schnell stellt sich heraus, dass der Fall mindestens so viele Windungen hat wie die DNA-Helix.

Als im englischen Worcester die verstümmelte Leiche der 14-jährigen Jennifer gefunden wird, ist schnell klar, dass hier ein extrem gefährlicher Psychopath seine Spur hinterlassen hat. Der Verdacht bestätigt sich, als andernorts weitere Teenager ermordet werden. Ihre Gemeinsamkeit: Alle sind sie vierzehn Jahre alt, immer hat der Serienkiller auf einer Internetplattform Kontakt zu ihnen aufgenommen und gemeinsame Interessen vorgetäuscht – bevor er sie schließlich ins Verderben lockte.

Verborgen in der Turmspitze eines viktorianischen Gemäuers in Edinburgh wird eine skelettierte Leiche mit einem Einschussloch im Schädel gefunden. Um wessen sterbliche Überreste handelt es sich? Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie soll den rätselhaften Fall aufklären. Ihre Nachforschungen führen sie zurück in die Balkan-Kriege der neunziger Jahre. In einem Labyrinth aus falschen Identitäten, politischen Konflikten und sorgsam gehüteten Geheimnissen scheint sich die Spur zu verflüchtigen. Doch manchmal ist die Vergangenheit erbarmungslos.