The title of Val McDermid’s The Wire in the Blood is taken from TS Eliot’s “East Coker” section of his collection of poems, “Four Quartets: “The trilling wire in the blood/sings below inveterate scars/ appeasing long-forgotten wars.” The poem, written during World War II, reflects Eliot’s religious faith and his belief that hope would overcome despair and darkness. Val McDermid considered the phrase to be a metaphor for the thrill of adrenaline surging through the bloodstream. ( https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...) There are snippets of Tony’s thoughts, portrayed in a book he is writing. And while I enjoyed those parts at the start of each the chapters; I would have liked more of his brilliant mind intertwined with the cases at hand. For not only is Carol no longer a cop, the Major Incident Team she headed has been revamped under the aegis of DCI Ian Rutherford, a policeman whose gaze is always upwards, looking for his next opportunity for promotion and the kind of cop who needs to make sure therefore, that everything is strictly by the book. With Tony behind bars and Carol finally out of road as a cop, he’s finding unexpected outlets for his talents in jail and she’s joined forces with a small informal group of lawyers and forensics experts looking into suspected miscarriages of justice. But they’re doing it without each other; being in the same room at visiting hour is too painful to contemplate. Meanwhile, construction is suddenly halted on the redevelopment of an orphanage after dozens of skeletons are found buried in the grounds. Forensic examination reveals they date from between twenty and forty years ago, when the nuns were running their repressive regime. But then a different set of skeletons are discovered in a far corner, young men from as recent as ten years ago.

Ferguson, Brian (29 August 2022). "Val McDermid reveals 'Queen of Crime' legal threat from Agatha Christie estate". Edinburgh Evening News . Retrieved 29 September 2022. The intensity grows with each possible lead. Is there a serial murderer at large or is this someone hiding in plain sight as sane as you or me? McDermid's works fall into five series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, Inspector Karen Pirie, and Allie Burns. Her characters include a journalist, Lindsay Gordon; a private investigator, Kate Brannigan; a clinical psychologist, Tony Hill; DCI Karen Pirie working out of Fife, Scotland; and Allie Burns, an investigative reporter whose stories start in 1979 with a planned set of sequels a decade apart. The Mermaids Singing, the first book in the Hill/Jordan series, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. The Hill/Jordan series has been adapted for television under the name Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green.How The Dead Speak is book 11 in the Carol Jordan and Tony Hill series. It has been a while since I read one of these books which is something I need to immediately rectify. I forgot how brilliant Val McDermid is and I am so looking forward to seeing her at BAD Writers Festival in Sydney in September. I received this book from Grove Atlantic with a publication date on 3rd December but it has already been released here in Australia and the UK - and I could not wait to read it. Fans of this series will love it and I felt that it could be read as a stand alone too. As an interesting fact, in 2022 Val McDermid told the Edinburgh Book Festival that the Agatha Christie estate had previously trademarked the term “Queen of Crime,” and they had threatened to sue her over this name. Val McDermid Awards and Nominations Congratulations to St Hilda's Alumnae Team on their Christmas University Challenge Victory". St Hilda's College, Oxford. 2 January 2017 . Retrieved 22 March 2017.

On 23 October 2016 McDermid married her partner of two years, Jo Sharp, a professor of geography at the University of Glasgow. [34] [35]A second hour-long adaptation of the other half of Clean Break (the novel). At first, Kate thinks she’s investigating a simple case of industrial sabotage. But nothing here is quite what it seems… Featuring Jane Hazelgrove as Kate and Kathryn Hunt reprising her roles as Shelley AND Alexis, thanks to the wonders of radio. Both Brannigans were directed by Melanie Harris. D.I. Paula MacIntyre ,Stacey Chen, Karim Hussain and new recruit, Steve Nisbet have their work cut out to find where these bodies have come from and I love the scenes where Paula interviews the Mother Superior and realises that she has come up against an inscrutable force. The team dynamic is different now and with Paula at the forefront and Stacey champing against the bit, there’s a lot to enjoy in this police procedural. Paula McIntyre, now a DI, who was more than just a team member she was also a friend of both Carol and Tony and it’s Paula that is the link that keeps Tony and Carol in the loop. McDermid considers her work to be part of the " Tartan Noir" Scottish crime fiction genre. [10] In addition to writing novels, McDermid contributes to several British newspapers and often broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. [11] Her novels, in particular the Tony Hill series, are known for their graphic depictions of violence and torture.