Val McDermid has always had a soft spot for winter: the bitter clarity of a crisp cold day, the crunch of frost on fallen leaves, and the chance to be enveloped in big jumpers and thick socks.

In Winter, McDermid takes us on an adventure through the season, from the frosty streets of Edinburgh to the windblown Scottish coast, from Bonfire Night and Christmas to Burns Night and Up Helly Aa. Recalling in parallel memories from her own childhood—of skating over frozen lakes and carving a “neep” (rutabaga) for Halloween to being taken to see her first real Christmas tree in the town square—McDermid offers a wise and enchanting meditation on winter and its ever-changing, sometimes ephemeral, traditions.

A hygge-filled journey through winter nights, McDermid reminds us that it is a time of rest, retreat and creativity, for scribbling in notebooks and settling in beside the fire. A treat for the hunkering-down, post-holiday reading season, Winter is a charming and cozy celebration of the year’s idle months from one of Scotland’s best-loved writers.

Praise for Winter:

“[A] celebration of the season that is part memoir, part guide to our festive traditions and seems tailor-made for the Christmas market.”—Vikki Reilly, The Scotsman (UK)

“Tartan noir master McDermid (Past Lying) flexes her talent for evocative description in this appealing collection . . . a satisfying collection of literary amuse-bouches.”—Publishers Weekly

“An endearing panorama of Scottish winters, told by a crime novelist on holiday from horror.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A warm hug of a book. I felt like I was sitting by a roaring winter fire and Val was talking to me directly, sometimes singing.”—Jackie Kay, author of Red Dust Road

“Rich, ruminative, and deeply, dazzlingly rousing . . . If winter wasn’t your favorite season already, that’s about to change.”—Michael Pedersen, Edinburgh Makar

Praise for Val McDermid:

“Clear-eyed, vigorous, unpretentious and mesmerizing.”—Seattle Times, on Forensics 

“McDermid has not lost her early journalistic genius for telling a good story plainly and with passion.”—Times Saturday Review (UK), on Forensics

“McDermid is at the top of her game and readers will be highly rewarded for taking this new journey at her side.”—CrimeReads on Still Life

“McDermid remains unrivaled . . . brilliant.”—Observer (UK) on How the Dead Speak