Crime pays for Val as she is given top award

Jan 12 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

“It’s been an amazing 12 months - inducted into the Hall of Fame, elected to an honorary fellowship at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and now the Diamond Dagger.

“But my readers can be reassured about one thing – I’m not going to rest on my laurels. There are still plenty of mountains for me to climb.”

Margaret Murphy, chair of the CWA, said: “The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger award acknowledges the work of an author who has made an outstanding contribution to the genre.

“Val McDermid is a worthy winner whose work has entertained and thrilled millions of readers as well as many more who have enjoyed the TV adaptations her books have inspired.”

Val’s latest book, Fever of the Bone, is published in paperback by Little, Brown on February 18.

It is the latest to feature the escapades of clinical psychologist Tony Hill – played by Robson Green in six series of Wire in the Blood –and DCI Carol Jordan.