“Jesus stops the crowd stoning her and says, ‘Let the person among you who is without sin throw the first stone.’ And this little old lady pushes her way through the mob, picks up this massive boulder and throws it at the adulterous woman. Crash, bang, wallop, she’s dead. And Jesus turns to the old dear and says, ‘Sometimes, Mother, you really piss me off.’ ”

V. L. McDermid

V. L. McDermid

Val McDermid published her first Lindsay Gordon mystery, Report for Murder, in 1987. Since then she has written a further five books in the series featuring the Scottish lesbian journalist. The fifth, Booked for Murder, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. She has also written six novels featuring PI Kate Brannigan, four featuring psychologist Tony Hill and police officer Carol Jordan, and four standalones. An international best-seller, her books have been translated into almost 30 languages and the Hill & Jordan series has been adapted for the award-winning TV series, Wire in the Blood. Her many awards include the Gold Dagger (for The Mermaids Singing), the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anthony, the Dilys, the Barry, the Macavity (for A Place of Execution), the Sherlock (for The Distant Echo) and the Grand Prix des Romans d’Aventure (for Star Struck).

Val grew up in a Scottish mining community and is a graduate of Oxford University. She worked as a journalist for 16 years, becoming National Bureau Chief of a major national Sunday tabloid. She quit journalism in 1991 to become a full-time writer. She is also a regular contributor to BBC radio. She has one son and divides her time between the city—Manchester—and the country—a seaside village in Northumberland.

Copyright Page

copyright © 1996 by Val McDermid

Bywater Books, Inc.
PO Box 3671
Ann Arbor MI 48106-3671

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, without permission
in writing from the publisher.

First published in Great Britain
by The Women’s Press Ltd, 1996

First published in the United States of America
by Spinsters Ink, 2000

eISBN : 978-1-612-94010-6

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and
incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any
resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is
entirely coincidental.