In The Distant Echo, the 2003 bestseller that was the beginning of Scottish crime writer Val McDermid’s “Inspector Karen Pirie” series, the policewoman doesn’t appear until two-thirds of the way through the book. Back then she was, says McDermid, a relatively minor character.
But when it came to writing the 2008 psychological thriller A Darker Domain, Pirie fitted the bill for another cold-case story set in Fife, the area north-east of Edinburgh from where McDermid hails. The Pirie series – six books so far – was born.
Now the character is heading to television, with an adaptation of – it’s titled and she’s there
