Val McDermid, Queen of Crime and number one bestseller, joins us for the launch of Essex Book Festival. Perhaps best known for her Wire in the Blood series, Val will talk about her latest heart-pounding thriller in the series featuring the unforgettable Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, How the Dead Speak.

The events that changed the lives of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan so dramatically have cast a long shadow. The aftermath is still causing repercussions, and everything that both thought they knew about right and wrong needs questioning. Most poignantly of all, they do not have each other to work it through with. They are both living with the consequences of their actions in different ways, struggling to find a new normality in their fractured lives.

But when a shocking discovery is made on a construction site, and skeletal remains are found to belong to a killer who is supposedly alive and behind bars, suddenly Tony and Carol are flung back into each other’s orbit once again.

“Her Queen of Crime status will not be challenged” – Scotsman

“McDermid remains unrivalled . . . brilliant” – Observer

“One of today’s most accomplished crime writers” – Literary Review

“Brilliant . . . sensational . . . unforgettable” – Guardian

Venue

This event is taking place in the Michael Salmon Building (SAL) at Anglia Ruskin University.

About the Author

Val McDermid has sold over 16 million books to date across the globe and has been translated into 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.

Broken Ground the fifth in the Karen Pirie series was published in paperback in 2019 and How The Dead Speak, is the eleventh book in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series.

Val was chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017 and has served as a judge for both the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2018 Man Booker Prize. She holds six honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.

Val is also lead vocalist with The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers.