Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of suspense novels starring her most famous creation, Dr. Tony Hill.

McDermid comes from Kirkcaldy, Fife, and was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, where she was the first student from a state school in Scotland (Kirkcaldy High School), and became President of the Junior Common Room. After graduation she became a journalist, and worked briefly as a dramatist. However, her first success as a novelist, Report for Murder: The First Lindsay Gordon Mystery, did not appear until 1987.

McDermid was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sunderland in 2011.

McDermid's notable characters are a lesbian journalist, Lindsay Gordon; a private investigator, Kate Brannigan; and a psychologist, Tony Hill, who suffers from sexual dysfunction. 

Her books mainly fall into three series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, and, beginning in 1995, the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, the first entry in which, The Mermaids Singing, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year.

The Hill/Jordan series has been adapted for television under the name Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green. Val McDermid has stated that Vance, a TV celebrity with a secret lust for torture, murder and under-age girls who featured in The Wire in the Blood and two later books, is based on her direct personal experience of interviewing Jimmy Savile. 

McDermid considers her work to be part of the "Tartan Noir" Scottish crime fiction genre. As well as her novels, McDermid contributes to several British newspapers and often broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland.

Her novels, in particular the Tony Hill series, are known for their graphic depictions of violence and torture.

Standalone Novels
(2000) Killing the Shadows- better version thanks to amosattaboy
(2006) Cleanskin
(2006) The Grave Tattoo 
(2008) A Darker Domain 
(2011) Trick of the Dark

Lindsay Gordon series
1. Report for Murder (1987)
2. Common Murder (1989) 
3. Deadline for Murder 
4. Conferences Are Murder 
5. Booked For Murder (1996)
6. Hostage to Murder (2003)

Kate Brannigan series
1. Dead Beat (1992)
2. Kick Back (1993)
3. Crack Down (1994)
4. Clean Break (1995)
5. Blue Genes (1996)
6. Star Struck (1998)

Tony Hill / Carol Jordan series
1. The Mermaids Singing (1995) 
2. The Wire In The Blood (1997) 
3. The Last Temptation (2002) 
4. The Torment of Others (2004) 
5. Beneath the Bleeding (2007)
6. Fever of the Bone (2009) 
7. The Retribution (2011)
8. Cross and Burn (2013)	
9. Splinter the Silence (2015)	

Non-Fiction
Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime