A must-read collection of stories by Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, "one of the bright lights of the mystery field" (The Washington Post). Val McDermid's novels have won the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award and the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger and Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. Enjoyed by millions of fans worldwide, her intelligent, incisive crime fiction showcases the best and worst of human nature. Here it is now, distilled into a superb collection of nineteen nail-biting, perfectly plotted short stories, including two featuring private eye Kate Brannigan and an introduction by Ian Rankin. "McDermid is as smooth a practitioner of crime fiction as anyone out there . . . She's the best we've got." —The New York Times Book Review