Karen Pirie
5 primary works • 7 total works
Book 1
The award-winning Number One bestseller and Queen of crime fiction Val McDermid carves out a stunning psychological thriller. The past is behind them, but what’s still to come will tear them apart…
Some things just won’t let go.
The past, for instance.
That night in the cemetery.
The girl’s body in the snow.
On a freezing Fife morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood.
Twenty-five years later the police mount a ‘cold case’ review of Rosie’s unsolved murder and the four are still suspects. But when two of them die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice. For the remaining two there is only one way to avoid becoming the next victim – find out who really killed Rosie all those years ago…
Book 2
Val McDermid, creator of TV’s Wire in the Blood, mixes fact with fiction, dealing with one of the most important and symbolic moments in recent history.
Twenty-five years ago, the daughter of the richest man in Scotland and her baby son were kidnapped and held to ransom. But Catriona Grant ended up dead and little Adam's fate has remained a mystery ever since. When a new clue is discovered in a deserted Tuscan villa – along with grisly evidence of a recent murder – cold case expert DI Karen Pirie is assigned to follow the trail.
She's already working a case from the same year. During the Miners' Strike of 1984, pit worker Mick Prentice vanished. He was presumed to have broken ranks and fled south with other 'scabs'… but Karen finds that the reported events of that night don't add up. Where did he really go? And is there a link to the Grant mystery?
The truth is stranger – and far darker – than fiction.
Book 3
Book 4
Internationally bestselling author Val McDermid is one of our finest crime writers, whose gripping, impeccably plotted novels have garnered millions of readers worldwide. In her latest, Out of Bounds, she delivers a riveting cold case novel featuring detective Karen Pirie.
When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from twenty-two years before. Finding the answer to the cold case should be straightforward. But it's as twisted as the DNA helix itself.
Meanwhile, Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another mystery that she has no business investigating, a mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again, she finds that nothing is as it seems.
An enthralling, twisty read, Out of Bounds reaffirms Val McDermid's place as one of the most dependable professionals in the mystery and thriller business.
"McDermid melds the political thriller with the police procedural for an intense novel that . . . feels both intensely personal and global . . . Karen . . . once again proves herself a formidable character worthy of her own series."--Associated Press on The Skeleton Road
Book 5
Don't miss the electrifying new Karen Pirie thriller - STILL LIFE is out now
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'A compulsively readable tale' Irish Times
'Another stellar read from McDermid, and further evidence that her "Queen of Crime" status will not be challenged' Scotsman
'Somebody has been here before us. And he's still here . . .'
When a body is discovered in the remote depths of the Highlands, DCI Karen Pirie finds herself in the right place at the right time. Unearthed with someone's long-buried inheritance, the victim seems to belong to the distant past - until new evidence suggests otherwise, and Karen is called in to unravel a case where nothing is as it seems.
It's not long before an overheard conversation draws Karen into the heart of a different case, however - a shocking crime she thought she'd already prevented. As she inches closer to the twisted truths at the centre of these murders, it becomes clear that she's dealing with a version of justice terrifyingly different to her own . . .
Number one bestseller and queen of crime Val McDermid returns with her most breathtakingly atmospheric and exhilarating novel yet
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Praise for Queen of Crime Val McDermid:
'It grabs the reader by the throat and never lets go' Daily Mail
'As good a psychological thriller as it is possible to get' Sunday Express
'One of today's most accomplished crime writers' Literary Review
'McDermid remains unrivalled' Observer
'The queen of crime is still at the top of her game' Independent
THE HEART-POUNDING NEW NOVEL IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR ITV SERIES STARRING LAUREN LYLE
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'Another jewel in Val McDermid's crown' MICK HERRON
'A must-read for anyone who enjoys top-knotch crime fiction' YOURS
'A chilling, twisting triumph. Past Lying is a classic mystery' CHRIS WHITAKER
Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime.
Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it.
As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiralling game of betrayal and revenge, where lies are indistinguishable from the truth and with more than one unexpected twist . . .
The Queen of Crime Val McDermid is at the top of her game in her most gripping and fiendishly clever case yet.
Praise for Val McDermid
'McDermid is at her considerable best' GUARDIAN
'Irresistible' PATRICIA CORNWELL
'A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre' PETER JAMES
'Outstanding' SPECTATOR
'Another masterpiece' DAVID BALDACCI
'Sensational. One of Britain's most accomplished writers' SUNDAY EXPRESS
THE MASTERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE ICONIC KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES
Praise for Val McDermid
'McDermid is at her considerable best' GUARDIAN
'The ingenious plot kept me guessing all the way through. It delivers on every level' MARIAN KEYES
'Outstanding' SPECTATOR
'Another masterpiece' DAVID BALDACCI
'Sensational. One of Britain's most accomplished writers' SUNDAY EXPRESS