Val McDermid - Page 1
Hardback
HarperCollins Audio
(2004) |
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The Distant Echo
Some Things Just Won’t Let You Go.
The past, for instance. That night in the cemetery. The girl’s body in the snow, her blood scarlet against the white ground...
Four a.m. on a freezing Fife morning and four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman lying in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in an ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood.
Twenty-five years later the police mount a `cold case’ review of Rosie’s unsolved murder and the four are still suspects. But when one of them dies in a suspicious house fire and another in a burglary gone bad, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice. For the remaining two there is only one way to avoid becoming the next victim - find
Who really killed Rosie all those years ago.
`A powerful psychological thriller ... atmospheric and complex’ Express
‘A classic... McDermid pulls out all the stops. Impeccable’ Guardian
4 Cassettes Running Time: approx. 6 hrs
Abridged by Kati Nicholl
Audio Tape - HarperCollins Audio (2004) |
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The Torment of Others
On a blood-soaked mattress lies a dead prostitute, her limbs spread in a parody of ecstasy, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago - murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of Derek Tyler.
But there’s no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He’s been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
All his years of experience tell top criminal psychologist Dr Tony Hill that there isn’t - but that would make the murders literally impossible. While Hill tries to crack Tyler, DCI Carol Jordan and her team mount a desperate undercover operation to trap the murderer, a decision that will have terrible consequences.
Now Tony Hill is prepared to think the unthinkable. And his incredible theory will lead him into a terrifying face-off with one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered ...
‘McDermid’s capacity to enter the warped mind of a deviant criminal is shiveringly convincing’ The Times
4 Cassettes Running Time: approx. 6 hrs
Abridged by Kati Nicholl
The Distant Echo
It’s four in the morning, at the end of a cold December, and snow is smothering St Andrews. Student Alex Gilbey and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the dying body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead. And the only suspects are four young men stained with her blood.
Twenty-five years later, Fife police mount a cold case review of the murder. But when one of the original four students dies in a suspicious house fire and another in a bungled burglary, it looks as if somebody is inflicting their own twisted brand of justice. Someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. If Alex Gilbey wants to stay alive, he must find out who it is and who really killed Rosie all those years ago.
Joe Dunlop’s many TV appearances include Brookside, Take the High Road, Taggart, Keeping Up Appearances and In Suspicious Circumstances. His theatre work includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Wild Oats, and Last Resort. He is also a highly experienced broadcaster and has been a member of the BBC Radio Drama Rep. He continues to perform in many radio plays as well as writing plays for the BBC.
Unabridged:
12 Cassettes Running Time: approx. 15 hrs 5 mins
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Audio Tape - ISIS (2002) |
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The Last Temptation
Mapping the minds of murderers is what Dr Tony Hill does better than anyone. So when a twisted killer starts targeting psychologists across Northern Europe, he’s the obvious choice to track the executioner’s mental and physical journey. Except he no longer wants to delve into the minds of serial killers. But soon the case comes too close to home: the next victim is one of his friends.
Hill’s former partner, DO Carol Jordan, is in Germany, working undercover in a world where human life is cheaper than a drugs deal. She needs his help as much as the hunters of the killer.
So Tony and Carol are joined in a battle against the odds. In the morass of double-cross and double-dealing, they have no-one to trust but each other.
Of mixed Scots and English descent, Vari Sylvester trained at RADA and spent her early career in London. She worked extensively with 7:84 England before basing herself in Scotland during the late 70s. She has played leading roles in many theatre productions including several for the Edinburgh Lyceum and has toured with 7:84 Scotland and the Scottish Theatre Company. Television credits include Billy Liar and Taggart.
Unabridged:
14 Cassettes Running Time: approx. 16 hrs 40 mins
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Audio Tape ISIS (2001) |
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Booked For Murder
A Lindsay Gordon mystery
Why would anyone want to kill Penny Varnavides, bestselling author of the teen dream series? It can’t have been the freak accident it first appeared - Penny’s death was an exact replica of the murder method in her forthcoming book. Apart from Penny, only three people knew the plot: her literary agent, her editor and her ex-girlfriend Meredith.
In memory of her old friendship with Penny, Lindsay Gordon agrees to investigate. Reluctantly she leaves her Californian haven for the fraught world of London publishing. And as her investigation reveals an incendiary mixture of soured relationships and seething rivalries, Lindsay must face the frightening truth. Someone in Penny’s literary or love life must have been driven to murder . . .
Of mixed Scots and English descent, Vari Sylvester trained at RADA and spent her early career in London. She worked extensively with 7:84 England before basing herself in Scotland during the late 70s. She has played leading roles in many theatre productions including several for the Edinburgh Lyceum and has toured with 7:84 Scotland and the Scottish Theatre Company. Television credits include Billy Liar and Taggart.
Unabridged:
8 Cassettes Running Time: approx. 8 hrs 45 mins
About The Author
Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community then read English at Oxford. She was a journalist for sixteen years and is now a full-time writer livingin South Manchester. Val won the 1995 Golden Dagger Award given by the British Crime Writers' Association for Best Crime Novel of the year for her book Mermaids Singing. Her comples and disturbing stand-alone thriller A Place of Execution won the 2001 LA Times Mystery/Thriller Book Award. She has also written 6 crime novels featuring Kate Brannigan, and 5 more featuring Lindsay Gordon. She has written a non-fiction book on real-life female private eyes, A Suitable Job for a Woman and three psychological thrillers featuring forensic psychologist Tony Hill ('Manchester's answer to Thomas Harris' (Guardian)). You will find copies of Val’s Crime Fiction Reviews for the Manchester Evening News here at Tangled Web.
A major ITV series based on Val’s books will be broadcast in 2002 with Robson Green playing the lead role.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
The Distant Echo
(HarperCollins Audio,
2004)
Apr 04
The Torment of Others
(HarperCollins Audio,
2004)
Jun 04
The Distant Echo
(ISIS,
2003)
The Last Temptation
(ISIS,
2002)
Booked For Murder
(ISIS,
2001)
(Lindsay Gordon)
Union Jack
(ISIS,
2001)
Final Edition
(ISIS,
2001)
Killing The Shadows
(HarperCollins Audio,
2001)
Killing The Shadows
(ISIS,
2001)
Common Murder
(ISIS,
2000)
Report for Murder
(ISIS,
2000)
The Distant Echo
Email: 
by Val McDermid
