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Where you see an innocuous wheel brace, Val McDermid sees a murder weapon, motive and killer plotline. Val has been keeping people on the edge of their seat for the past 25 years, presiding as one of the UK’s top crime writers, elevating the suspense genre to high art. Her endless reinventions of the genre have provoked shock and plaudits from critics across the world. Most recently, she’s turned her attention to the history of forensics and the real-life stories underpinning her creations. She traces the science all the way back to the investigation of a multiple stab-wound in ancient China through to the first autopsy performed by Julius Ceasar. She’ll be sharing some of her grisly discoveries with us on the night.

Image Credit: Alan Peebles