Mystery Writer Val McDermid Awarded CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award

Crime Writers Association, CWA, has awarded popular author Val McDermid the 2009 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, which honours outstanding achievement in the field of crime writing. Margaret Murphy, chair of the CWA, said: “The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger award acknowledges the work of an author who has made an outstanding contribution to the genre. Val McDermid is a worthy winner whose work has entertained and thrilled millions of readers as well as many more who have enjoyed the TV adaptations her books have inspired.” In 1995 McDermid won the CWA Gold Dagger for The Mermaids Singing, which first introduced her characters Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. Fever of the Bone is the sixth novel of this series which inspired the popular ITV series Wire in the Blood. McDermid's books have sold more than 10 million worldwide. She has written 23 bestselling novels.