1979: The unmissable first thriller in an electrifying, brand-new series from the Queen of Crime (Allie Burns)

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Anna Burnside (2 September 2016). "Straight-talking Val McDermid lifts lid on her latest novel and why she's the badass woman of the week". Daily Record . Retrieved 25 October 2016. Allie is a rare female in the newsroom of The Daily Clarion, a Glasgow-based Scottish national newspaper that sits on the tabloid side of the fence. It’s her first national job since finishing her degree and then doing her training at a regional in the north east of England. She has ambitions of making it to Fleet Street, but in a male dominated world she’s consigned to the stories that need ‘a woman’s touch’ – like the first-hand account she writes about the unexpected arrival of a baby on a snow-bound train at the turn of New Year.

I want my books to have authenticity, a sense of time and space. I get accused of being political but all fiction has a political stance. This is the first book in the Allie Burns series by author Val McDermid. I love the Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid so I was hoping for more of the same with this new series about an investigative journalist based in 1979.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies – and Allie won’t stop there. Naturally with these sorts of novels, there is little I can say regarding the story itself without spoilers so I will simply say the narrative was engaging and the ending felt satisfying. There is a decision the protagonist makes right at the end of the novel which I think may be slightly controversial however I thought it fit really well with our characters and im glad it didn't go the other way. Sally Rowena Munt (1994). Murder by the Book: Feminism and the Crime Novel. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 0415109191.

It's the winter of discontent, and Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. One of few women in the newsroom, she needs something explosive for the boys' club to take her seriously.Cross and Burn by Val McDermid: Undiscovered Scotland Book Review". www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk . Retrieved 16 April 2022.