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Cosmopolitan
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
If you love Karen Pirie, this is exactly what happens to her in the next 6 books the show is based on
In case you missed it Karen Pirie is officially back on our screens for series two, three years after we were introduced to the Scottish detective series in 2022. The second series kicked off on 20 July and sees Lauren Lyle back in action as the titular detective Karen Pirie as she investigates the decades old disappearance of oil heiress Catriona Grant. After a dead body is discovered in a bog, it blows the once highly publicised case wide open, giving fresh hope to Catriona's parents their child and grandchild may still be alive. And another thing you may not have realised is the ITV series is in fact based on a series of books by Scottish author Val McDermid. McDermid has sold over 19 million copies of her novels worldwide across the Karen Pirie series, the Dr Tony Hill series and her many other projects. So far two of the books from the Karen Pirie novel series have been adapted into two seasons of show, but there's actually six more books in the series with plenty more cases for Karen and the team to solve. Curious to know what else is in store for Karen? Here's everything you need to know about all eight books in the Karen Pirie series. The first book in the series follows Karen as she investigates the 25-year-old murder case of Rosie, a young woman who was found raped, stabbed and dead in a graveyard. Four young students found her and were quickly put high up the suspect list. However, in the present timeline when two of these students end up dead it seems someone is carrying out their own form of justice and it's a race against the clock to make sure the other two don't end up dead, as well as finding Rosie's killer. Five years after the original novel was published Val McDermid returned with the second book in Karen's story. This is the book the second ITV series is based on and follows a similar plot line. In the second book, Karen investigating the kidnapping of Catriona Grant and her young son, who went missing 25 years ago, amid political unrest and the miners' strike of 1984. Karen is put onto the case of identifying the remains of a skeleton discovered in a crumbling Edinburgh building. As she delves further into the mystery person's identity, she finds herself in a world of intrigue, betrayal and someone else is taking the law into their own hands. A teenager's car accident that ends in a coma is the catalyst that kicks off an investigation into a 20 year old cold case. The teen's DNA causes two historic investigations to be blown wide open, that of a rape and murder in 1996 and a plane crash in 1994. Meanwhile things are not going well in Karen's personal life, as she deals with the death of a loved one. But it's not all doom and gloom as Karen makes it her mission to help the Syrian refugees. This time around Karen is called to investigate a body and unknown inheritance that are discovered in the Scottish Highlands. As Karen delves deeper into the case, it seems to bring up more questions than answers, with nothing being as it seems. She also finds herself dealing with another case simultaneously that she thought she had already prevented. Still Life sees Karen once again have to balance two cases at once. The first is that of a dead body pulled out of the sea. The victim was the prime suspect in a decades long case in which a civil servant disappeared one day without a trace. Meanwhile she's also investigating a skeleton that has been found in a campervan and Karen believes all the clues hint towards a killer who is still very much at large. In the seventh novel of the series it's not a body that kicks off a cold case investigation. No it's an author's manuscript. The manuscript is eerily similar to the case of Lara Hardie, a Edinburgh University student who disappeared years ago. The manuscript may be the key to solving the case, however its author never finished it. The next book in the Karen Pirie series is due to be released later this year in October and follows Karen as she investigates another cold case. This time around a landslide on a motorway causes the discovery of a body that has been dead for 11 years. The body belongs to journalist Sam Nimmo who was the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancee, however, with them now both dead, who wanted Sam buried? And back in Edinburgh there's another case to solve as the accidental death of a hotel manager is starting to look a more like murder. With a web of lies to untangle will Karen be able to find the answers? Karen Pirie season two is available on ITV1 and ITVX
Edinburgh Reporter
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Val McDermid awarded honorary degree
Scottish author and broadcaster Val McDermid was awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh today, as part of its summer graduation celebrations. Val McDermid, originally from Kirkcaldy, Fife, is one of the UK's most accomplished and respected novelists, an international number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than forty languages and sold over 19 million copies worldwide. Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for TV and radio, most notably the Wire in the Blood series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan. Her 'Karen Pirie' novels have also been adapted for a major ITV series. Ms McDermid was created an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Edinburgh's School of Literature, Languages & Cultures during this afternoon's ceremony, following a laureation from the University's Director of Marketing and Communications, Theresa Merrick. Scottish crime author Val McDermid was awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh today, as part of its summer graduation celebrations. Pictures Alan Simpson Like this: Like Related
The Herald Scotland
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish literary star Val McDermid awarded honorary degree
Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for TV and radio, most notably the Wire in the Blood series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan. Her 'Karen Pirie' novels have also been adapted for a major ITV series. McDermid will be created an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Edinburgh's School of Literature, Languages & Cultures during this afternoon's ceremony, following a laureation from the University's Director of Marketing and Communications, Theresa Merrick. The award is given in recognition of her contribution to writing and broadcasting, and in celebration of her success as an author and ambassador for Scottish literature worldwide. I love the fantastic Futtle brewery at Bowhouse Farm Scotland's 10 best working class writers McDermid attended Kirkcaldy High School before graduating in English from St Hilda's College, Oxford University - the first student from a Scottish state school to do so - before going on to work as an award-winning journalist for 16 years before beginning her writing career. She has written five book series, stand-alone novels, books for children, short story collections and non-fiction titles, publishing over 50 books to date. She is a leading proponent of crime fiction and its sub-genre 'tartan noir' and will publish the 8th edition of her popular 'Karen Pirie' series in October 2025. She has also written novels set in range of other worlds, notably drawing on her own experience in journalism to create her recent 'Allie Burns' series, featuring a fictional investigative journalist working for a Scottish newspaper. McDermid has also written extensively for stage, microphone and screen, with several acclaimed dramas broadcast on BBC Radio 4, including five series of comedy-crime serial Dead. She is an experienced broadcaster and cultural commentator, having guest edited BBC Radio 4's Front Row, fronted features for BBC Two's cultural programming, written and presented radio documentaries, and appeared on a range of TV shows, including Question Time and Have I Got News for You. Val McDermid (Image: Philippe Matsas Bridgeman Images) Val captained the winning alumnae team for Oxford on the 2016 University Challenge Christmas special and is a previous Celebrity Mastermind champion. More recently, she has returned to writing for the theatre with Margaret Saves Scotland for Oran Mor's acclaimed A Play, Pie and Pint programme. She has also created two series of TV drama Traces, starring Martin Compston, which aired on BBC One in 2021 and 2022. McDermid is the recipient of many awards and accolades, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and Royal Society of Edinburgh. She has served as a judge for both the Man Booker Prize and Women's Prize for Fiction and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She has participated at arts and book festivals all over the world, notably appearing regularly at Edinburgh's Festivals, and plays an active role in Scottish civic society. McDermid is the recipient of eight Honorary Doctorates, including Edinburgh's, is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford and Professor of Scottish Studies & Crime Fiction at the University of Otago. She is Patron of the Scottish Book Trust, and as a lifelong football fan, a founding sponsor of McDermid Ladies football team, based in Kirkcaldy. Val McDermid said: 'When I was a teenager in Fife more than half a century ago, the University of Edinburgh was a place of glamour and aspiration - and parties! I never imagined I would be the recipient of such an honour. To be awarded an honorary degree is a distinction that reflects not just on my work but on the teachers, writers, publishers, booksellers and readers who have supported me on my way. I'm grateful to all of them, and of course, to the University.' Theresa Merrick, University of Edinburgh Director of Marketing & Communications, said: 'Val McDermid is one of the best-selling and internationally acclaimed writers of her generation. Today we celebrate and honour Val for her literary prowess and her commitment to speaking out on issues of significance, inequality and social justice. She has championed writers, artists and individuals in Scotland and beyond, and has long used her profile and talent to speak for those who may not have such a strong voice. We offer congratulations and thanks to Val on all her achievements.'
Times
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Simon House obituary: violinist who brought the instrument into rock
When Simon House put aside his classical training to play rock'n'roll, he never imagined that his violin could have a part to play in a world dominated by electric guitars. So convinced was he that the instrument he had spent his youth mastering had no place that by the time he joined his first band he had switched to bass guitar. The band was High Tide and when the group's singer and guitarist, Tony Hill, learnt of House's classical background, he was intrigued by the possibility of expanding beyond rock music's basic formula of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. 'He said, 'I used to play violin, you know',' Hill remembered. 'So I said, 'Get it!'' House did so and High Tide became one of the first rock bands prominently to use a violin as a lead instrument, creating an exhilarating interplay with Hill's guitar. 'Showing that rock violin needn't be a marginal adornment, House whips up an aggressive edge that rivals the guitar,' an AllMusic retrospective review of High Tide's 1969 debut album Sea Shanties noted. In the fashion of the times 'to get it together in the country', House and his fellow band mates moved to a farmhouse in Dorset but after one further album High Tide broke up, disappointed by a lack of commercial success. Nevertheless, in the group's brief existence House had helped to establish the violin in the rock firmament. Other British bands such as Curved Air and Fairport Convention followed suit and incorporated an amplified fiddle into their sound. He went on to play with Hawkwind, adding Mellotron and synthesiser to his violin-playing. Melody Maker called him the band's 'new boy wonder' when he joined the line-up in 1974. Four years later he left to join David Bowie's touring band and went on to play on his 1979 album Lodger. House had met Bowie in the late 1960s when High Tide had played gigs and festivals with the then little-known singer but the call came as a surprise. 'He phoned up one night and asked if I wanted to do a tour. I just couldn't believe it and jumped at it,' House recalled. After two weeks of rehearsals with Bowie he went straight into the American tour, playing violin on a wide range of songs drawn from such albums as Ziggy Stardust and Heroes, and heard on the 1978 live album Stage. Once the tour had finished, he decamped with Bowie and the producer Brian Eno to Montreux, Switzerland, to record Lodger. House ended up playing violin on four tracks, including the hit single Boys Keep Swinging and Yassassin. In the late 1980s he rejoined Hawkwind and played violin on the group's 1990 album Space Bandits. However, he was forced to drop out from touring to support the album when his daughter Holly had leukaemia diagnosed. 'So I stayed home and did my own stuff and my own albums after that,' he recalled. Holly recovered and survives him, along with his son, Thor House, a musician and producer who plays with his wife, Sascha, in the Cornish band the Disappointments. Simon House was born in Nottingham in 1948, the son of enthusiastic amateur musicians. Keen for him to share their passion, they enrolled him for violin lessons at an early age and he was soon playing alongside his father in the Mansfield and District Light Orchestra. His musical future appeared to lie in the classical realm until the release of the Beatles' first No 1 when he was 14. As the 1960s counterculture gathered pace, he became increasingly caught up in its heady aroma, dropping out of university and gravitating to the community of hippies, heads and freaks living in squats and crash pads in Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove, west London, from which emerged not only High Tide but bands such as Hawkwind, Quintessence and the Pink Fairies. After High Tide broke up he briefly joined the Third Ear Band, a quasi-classical hippie collective with whom he recorded the soundtrack for Roman Polanski's 1971 film adaptation of Macbeth, but was forced to take a day job away from music until Hawkwind came calling. He joined the band on the eve of an American tour, which meant there was no time to get a work visa but he gigged with them anyway. Yet it was not the immigration authorities but the Internal Revenue Service who raided a concert in Indiana and impounded his violin along with the rest of the band's equipment. It was only returned once a sizeable tax bill on Hawkwind's US earnings had been settled. After his time with Bowie, he toured with Mike Oldfield, playing violin, keyboards and mandolin on Tubular Bells, and appeared on albums by Japan, David Sylvian and further Hawkwind projects and offshoots. In later years he claimed to listen to very little rock'n'roll and to have returned to his first love of classical music. It would have given him considerable satisfaction that his passing was recorded not only by the NME but also by The Strad. Simon House, musician, was born on August 29, 1948. He died on May 25, 2025, aged 76
Indianapolis Star
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
Dawson's on Main loses phone service, 'game-changing money' with Indy 500 weeks away
Speedway eatery Dawson's on Main has been without phone service for over a week after trying to switch providers. Co-owner Tony Hill estimates the outage has cost his restaurant around $20,000 in lost business. May can be a make-or-break time for Speedway businesses. As a restaurant owner in Speedway, Tony Hill banks on the month of May to keep his business running through the summer. But right now, he and his staff at Dawson's on Main are scrambling to stem the loss of what Hill said could be tens of thousands of dollars due to a phone outage. Hill, who has co-owned Dawson's with his brother Chris since June 2006, told IndyStar the restaurant's phone lines have been out of order since the last week of April. After nearly 20 years with the same phone and internet provider, the Hills decided in late January to switch from Comcast to AT&T to save money. However, the (317) 247-7000 number that Dawson's used for years was caught in a no man's land between the two companies, and the Hills have paid bills to both providers each of the last three months to retain the Dawson's phone line. About two weeks ago, the line stopped working and AT&T has been unable to fix it, Hill said. Even in the digital age, a simple landline can be crucial to a restaurant's operations. While Dawson's offers online reservations through OpenTable, Hill said call-in reservations, carry-out orders and catering orders are a huge part of his business. He estimates the restaurant has missed out on around $20,000 in the weeks that Dawson's has been without a functioning phone line to date. "When you call and you get, 'This number is not in service,' it makes it look like we're not here," he said. The malfunction led Dawson's to decide to close on Mother's Day. The restaurant planned to offer a buffet that customers reserve over the phone. Hill called the holiday "a $15-to-20,000 day." Then there's the money that Speedway businesses like Dawson's stand to make as the Indianapolis 500 approaches. Hill considers weeks leading up to the race his restaurant's version of the Christmas season for retail stores. Some servers can earn more than five times their typical pay during a shift, Hill said. While staffers at Dawson's hope the issue will be resolved soon, they're nervous about what late May will look like without a heavily relied-upon service at their disposal. "They're all scared," Hill said. "When you're a restaurant two blocks from the track in the month of May, it's a big deal." In the meantime, customers can place reservations on Dawson's' website through OpenTable and contact the restaurant at info@ Customers can reach out via Facebook direct message and a staffer will call back from a cell phone. Hill, who said he and his brother have "tried it all" with regards to troubleshooting and suggestions from concerned customers, remains optimistic the situation will improve shortly. "I hope it gets resolved here quickly and we can enjoy the month of May with a bunch of people," he said. "It's a busy, hectic month. Crazy, but it's fun — and it's not so fun right now."
