THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Karen Pirie returns . . . Pre-order Past Lying, the eagerly-awaited new Karen Pirie thriller, publishing October 2023
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1989. The world is on the brink of revolution and journalist Allie Burns is a woman on a mission. When she discovers a lead about the exploitation of society's most vulnerable, Allie is determined to investigate and give voice to the silenced.

Elsewhere, a ticking clock begins the countdown to a murder. As Allie begins to connect the dots and edges closer to exposing the truth, it is more shocking than she ever imagined. There's nothing like a killer story, and to tell it, Allie must risk her freedom and her life . . .

The brand-new unmissable, heart-stopping thriller from number one bestseller, Val McDermid
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Praise for the Allie Burns series

'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

'A masterly setter of scene' SCOTSMAN

About the Author
Val McDermid is a number one bestseller whose novels have been translated into forty languages, and have sold over nineteen 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 seven 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.

Reviews
1989, by reigning queen of UK crime Val McDermid, is a sequel to her change-of-pace 1979 , the memorable beginning to a quintet of books set in a Glaswegian tabloid office . . . This is every bit as accomplished as its predecessor, with the same crisp sense of an increasingly distant era * Financial Times *
One of Britain's most successful crime novelists . . . The novel evokes glorious nostalgia for those who recall mobile phones like house bricks and laptops the size of suitcases * Sunday Times *
A book of many parts . . . [McDermid is] subverting the crime genre to her own ends. How the remaining three volumes will turn out is anyone's guess * The Times *
There is a great deal to enjoy in this novel . . . McDermid remains a masterly setter of a scene and developer of a storyline. There is an agreeable warmth to much of the book, and the evocation of the world of journalism and politics of the late 20th century is convincing . . . [A book] that will be deeply enjoyed * Scotsman *
Studded with a wealth of period detail . . . It whips along like bushfire * Herald *
McDermid convincingly recreates the grim era of AIDS, Lockerbie and Hillsborough while providing several juicy mysteries for the reader to gnaw on * Daily Mirror *
Praise for 1979 * - *
The Queen of Crime has done it again . . . Irresistible -- Patricia Cornwell
McDermid is at her considerable best here * Guardian *
A supremo of the genre at the height of her powers . . . An unmissable new series -- Peter James
Allie is a fabulous character, I'll go wherever she takes me and I'm dying to see what she does next -- Marian Keyes
McDermid can do edge-of-seat suspense better than most novelists . . . An excellent opener to what promises to be an outstanding series * Spectator *
A tour-de-force . . . The Queen of Crime has delivered another masterpiece -- David Baldacci
Packed full of Val McDermid's trademark brilliance, 1979 is a thrilling snapshot of a fascinating era -- Jane Harper
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 nail-biting new series * Observer *
Allie Burns is off to a flying start, and well worth following down the decades * Scotsman *
A new series from Val McDermid promises to be an event - and 1979 delivers . . . A marvellous new character to follow through the years to come -- Mick Herron



Book Information
ISBN 9780751583137
Author Val McDermid
Format Paperback
Page Count 464
Imprint Sphere
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 320g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 126mm * 36mm