THERE are several accolades to which a successful crime novelist can aspire.
The Crime Writers' Association annually presents the Gold Dagger award for the best novel of the genre. WH Smith, the Radio Times and T & R Theakston collude in the Theakstons Old Peculier awards for paperbacks.
And, in October, ITV3 will transmit the Specsavers awards. But surely, for one of that number, nothing can beat the thrill of having a mortuary named in your honour.
Such is the good fortune of the Kirkcaldy-born creator of the Wire in the Blood series, who now lends her name to the Val McDermid Mortuary at Dundee University.
The facility was funded by the Million for a Morgue campaign, during which the public donated money to the project while also voting for which crime author to name it after.
Ten authors supported the campaign and were in the running to have the morgue named after them. Each online vote contributed £1 to the appeal.
There is glory amid the gory, too, for the runner-up, fellow Scot Stuart MacBride, who has had a dissection room named after him. They are both entitled to feel dead chuffed.
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