Two detectives are trying to investigate a murder in the sleepy Northumbrian village of Shilwick, but the residents are making it difficult. In May last year, the Big Lottery Fund awarded funding to 10 groups of villagers across the UK to start new community-run enterprises that would breathe new life into their communities, create jobs and provide new opportunities for local people. Six of these projects were filmed for a primetime, six-part BBC One TV series which follows the ups and downs of these new village businesses, from start up to trading. In Val McDermid’s Village SOS Woman’s Hour Drama, Val has written about a seventh, fictional village which receives a grant to turn a deconsecrated chapel into a performing arts centre. Village SOS really is an inspiring series for anyone interested in getting more involved with their community, or even setting up their own community business
Author
Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award. She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.
