Val McDermid
Novelist
Scottish crime and suspense novelist. She is best known for her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, which includes such titles as The Mermaids Singing, Beneath the Bleeding, and The Retribution.
After graduating from St. Hilda's College, Oxford, she worked briefly as both a journalist and a playwright.
Her popular characters include investigator Kate Brannigan, journalist Lindsay Gordon, and psychologist Tony Hill.
Prior to their separation, she and her longtime female partner conceived a son, Cameron, through artificial insemination.
Actor Robson Green starred in the television adaptation of McDermid's Hill and Jordan series.