Val McDermid confessed she wishes popular character drank whisky instead of gin 

Scottish crime writer Val McDermid has confessed she wishes she’d made her popular character Karen Pirie drink whisky instead of gin. 

The whisky-loving writer behind the globally successful Karen Pirie book series revealed she regularly receives bottles of gin as a gift from well-meaning fans.

But on The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Whisky Talks podcast she admitted she much prefers a good single malt. 

Val said readers often assume she must have made her cold case-solving protagonist a gin drinker because of her own appreciation of the spirit. 

But she is unable to drink Pirie’s favourite tipple due to an ill-fated drinking session when studying at university.  

While first writing the books Val was impressed by the growing gin industry and the variety available in Scotland.

‘I do feel that I made a tactical error in making Karen a gin drinker,’ she said.

‘I still think it suits her personality, but as a result, I’ve generously been given quite a few bottles of gin. 

‘My partner and her colleagues assure me these are lovely, but I can’t drink any as I over-indulged to the point of being sick for three days back when I was a student. 

‘The very smell still makes me faintly queasy.’

McDermid is a long-time member of the world’s largest whisky club, the SMWS, which specialises in rare, one-of-a-kind whiskies which are selected by their expert tasting panel. 

This year the Society is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Val said: ‘I’ve always enjoyed a dram, so I missed a trick by not making Karen like our national spirit. 

‘When I was developing my new series, 1979 and 1989, I took the opportunity to correct this by making the main character Allie Burns a malt whisky drinker.’

The latest Karen Pirie instalment, Past Lying, will be released in October. 

The podcast featuring Val’s full conversation with The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is available to listen to now at : https://whiskytalk.fireside.fm/64  

Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s food and drink pages, in association with Cask & Still magazine.

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