Stranded

V.L. McDermid

A new collection of short-stories from the leading contemporary crime-writer, with a foreword by Ian Rankin.

'There are stories here which will make you shudder, and which will linger long in the mind.'

Ian Rankin

'There really is something for everyone in this gem of a collection. ... this is a wonderful book'

Crime Squad, which made Val McDermid its Author of the Month in May.

'Val McDermid is a roaring Ferrari amid the crowded traffic on the crime-writing road.'

Independent

'She's the best we've got.'

New York Times

White nights of passion and revenge in St Petersburg. A bingo-hall tyrant trapped by masked intruders. The sleazy flipside of the international publishing scene. An author succumbing to the deadly lure of cybersex.

Stranded demonstrates yet again the scope of Val McDermid's imagination, her versatility as a stylist and her immense powers as a storyteller. As well as McDermid's popular series character, private eye Kate Brannigan, this diverse collection contains narrative voices, both female and male, from different continents and an eclectic range of backgrounds. McDermid has chosen the short-story form to probe not only the motivations of the criminal underworld but also the nature of crime itself, all the time playing with crime-writing and pushing it to its limits. There are even occasions where McDermid defies the genre altogether and the collection is framed by two stories that show a writer exploring fresh territory.

Grit, sex, glamour, intrigue and unexpected turns: Stranded is a showcase of trademark McDermid that will strike a few surprising chords amongst even her most devoted readers.

Stranded was launched at an event at Newcastle's Literary and Philosophical Society on Thursday 9th June 2005. Introduced by Margaret Lewis, who referred to the Lit & Phil's renowned collection of crime fiction, Val McDermid explained how she had originally only written short stories when pressed to do so for anthologies. Although she has always enjoyed reading short stories, she had for a long time felt that her own imagination worked at the pace of a full-length book. A few years ago, however, something had clicked and she now felt she had cracked the art of writing short stories.

She then proceeded to prove this, by reading one of the stories from the collection, Consolation Blonde, in a convincing American accent. A question and answer session with the audience ranged over the short stories, the novels, and the television adaptations: Val has not written a Kate Brannigan novel for seven years but now felt ready to return; she works closely with Coastal Productions on Wire in the Blood; and, asked about the final piece The Road and the Miles to Dundee, which is not a crime story, she said she welcomed the freedom that a commission from New Writing North had given her to step outside her usual genre.

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