Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into forty languages, and have sold over eighteen million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010 and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2016, Val received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and in 2017 received the DIVA Literary Prize for Crime, and was elected a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Val has served as a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford and a Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She writes full time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife.
Praise for 1979 * - *
The Queen of Crime has done it again, this time with Allie
Burns, a relentless investigative journalist who birddogs crime and
terror back in the days of typewriters and smoke-filled newsrooms.
Masterfully set in Edinburgh, 1979 transports us from the
first page. Val McDermid's latest is more than just a compelling
story. It's an irresistible and palpable journey that's especially
gratifying in today's remote world -- Patricia Cornwell
A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre at the height of her
powers. A cast of engaging new characters promise to make this an
unmissable new series and a thrilling addition to the genre --
Peter James
A tour-de-force by the amazing McDermid. From the very first
pages she effortlessly transports us back in time . . . The plot
and characters are remarkable and compelling. Hopefully, we will
see the crackerjack Allie Burns back on the pages. The Queen of
Crime has delivered another masterpiece -- David Baldacci
Val McDermid is the absolute QUEEN. It's great that this is the
first of a new series. Allie is a fabulous character, I'll go
wherever she takes me and I'm dying to see what she does next
-- Marian Keyes
Packed full of Val McDermid's trademark brilliance, 1979
is a thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era -- Jane Harper
McDermid is at her considerable best here . . . The good news is
that this excellent novel marks the start of a new series *
Guardian *
A brilliant thriller, as well as a perfect snapshot of the
social and political issues of the time. If there's a novel that
better captures what working on a newspaper was like back in the
day, I can't think of it -- Linwood Barclay
Unrivalled. Unmissable. Unforgettable. 1979 is Val
McDermid at her nail-biting, heart-rending best -- Chris
Whitaker
While "gripping" is an adjective over-used in book reviews, it's a
fitting description of a sensational novel. A surefire bestseller
from one of Britain's most accomplished writers * Sunday Express
*
A new series from Val McDermid promises to be an event - and
1979 delivers. It's full of wit, thrills and incisive social
observation, and features, in Allie Burns, a marvellous new
character to follow through the years to come -- Mick
Herron
Absolutely fantastic. I have been reading Val McDermid for
twenty-five years, so I am really saying something when I tell you
I enjoyed this novel the most. Immersive in its authenticity and
pungently atmospheric . . . For someone who remembers the print
newsrooms in their heyday, it was a trip into the past so realistic
I could smell the fag smoke on my clothes -- Chris
Brookmyre
McDermid can do edge-of-seat suspense better than most novelists
. . . An excellent opener to what promises to be an outstanding
series * Spectator *
Brilliant characters, masterful plotting and a pitch-perfect
evocation of the heyday of newspapers. I loved it -- Chris
Hammer
A nail-biting new series * Observer *
A fast-paced triple whammy of a thriller, with all three plots,
each credible, running simultaneously. It uses all the
crime-writing skills she has honed over the years, and adds
something else - a pin-sharp portrait of tabloid journalism in its
messy, misogynistic 1970s heyday. Allie Burns is off to a flying
start, and well worth following down the decades * The Scotsman
*
A fast-paced triple whammy of a thriller, with all three plots,
each credible, running simultaneously. It uses all the
crime-writing skills she has honed over the years, and adds
something else - a pin-sharp portrait of tabloid journalism in its
messy, misogynistic 1970s heyday. Allie Burns is off to a flying
start, and well worth following down the decades * The Scotsman
*
Val McDermid was a newshound at the time and it shows . . . This
is her best book in years * The Times, Book of the Month *
Allie is a gratifyingly multi-faceted character, and the
sociopolitical elements here add a frisson * Financial Times
*
The work of a writer at the peak of her powers * Herald
*
The fast-paced storytelling flows irresistibly, and McDermid
marshals a wide-ranging cast of characters with aplomb * Irish
Times *
Her evocation of the Winter of Discontent is spare and skilful .
. . allowing the characters, not the period, to take centre
stage * Scotland on Sunday *
Captures the bleakness and misery of the era with pitch-perfect
accuracy * Irish Independent *
A superb evocation of the humiliations and triumphs of being a
junior reporter, set against the backdrop of the broken Britain of
1979 . . . Riveting * Daily Express *
A novel as touching as it is gripping * Big Issue *
There are all sorts of reasons to love this book, from the
unvarnished truth about newsrooms in the late 70s, to glimpses into
social history . . . Engrossing * The i *
An engrossing read * Sunday Post *
A delightful throwback . . . McDermid looks back in anger - and
with some measure of affection - at the vexed era she lived through
that gave rise to her socially engaged mysteries * Washington
Post *
The Crime Queen has done it again and created a character we
will all come to know and love. A masterpiece * Daily Record
*
A pacey read * Daily Express *
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