Past Lying: A Karen Pirie Novel
Posted on October 16, 2023 by Jack

I’ve been fan of Val McDermit for several years now https://www.jackreidy.com/blog/tag/val-mcdermid/ .

Past Lying: A Karen Pirie Novel is her latest. DCI Karen Pirie heads Police Scotland’s Historic Case Unit (HCU). We Americans would call it cold cases. The Scots prefer the “Historic” designation for reasons given in this book.

I eagerly requested an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) when I saw one was available for her latest novel. I thank both Netgalley https://www.netgalley.com and Grove Atlantic for the chance to read this before publication. The book will be published on November 14.

Past Lying is a return to the Karen Pirie series after a 2 year break to begin another series featuring journalist Allie Burns. I enjoy both series but it was good to return. I was pleased to see that DS Daisy Mortimer who was assigned to Karen’s unit a previous book returns here.

The story takes place during the COVID pandemic so depending on your experience there could influence your decision on reading this story. The story is complicated and there are many twists and turns. Investigating is made even more complicated by the COVID restrictions.

Val McDermid has been called the “Queen of Crime” by the Scotsman. In my experience each of her books that I have read has been great.

Once again, I highly recommend this book.

Val McDermid’s popular cold case detective, DCI Karen Pirie, makes a welcomed return in Past Lying, the seventh book in the highly entertaining series.

Set in Edinburgh during the peak of the COVID lockdowns in early 2020, Past Lying is a very engaging mystery that features an interesting ‘story within a story’ plot and some great atmospheric writing.

Karen is initially sceptical when an author’s manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime, but she cannot ignore the plot’s chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there’s a problem, the author, a disgraced well-known Scottish crime writer, died before he finished it.

As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiralling game of betrayal and revenge, while around her the pandemic wreaks havoc and causes some tragic outcomes.

I think that Past Lying is probably Val’s best novel for some time. The plotting is clever, and I enjoyed the dual storylines of the author’s novel and the ongoing police investigation. As always, the mechanics of the cold case ring true, and along the way Val introduces the reader to an interesting cast of auxiliary characters.

The central mystery is a good one and it unfolds in very unexpected ways. The story is also helped by an interesting secondary storyline, which adds some good suspense and action. As well, there are some not unexpected developments in Karen’s personal life, which regular readers will find interesting.

Val is always very good at creating vivid and compelling scenes that make the most of Scotland’s history and scenery, and in Past Lying she ably recreates the horror and uncertainty of the pandemic.

Scottish crime writing features heavily in the novel, as Karen tries to separate fact from fiction and in the process she receives a crash course in crime fiction and the vagaries of authors and publishers. This gives Val plenty of opportunity for ‘tongue-in-cheek’ reflections and plenty of inside comments and wry observations about contemporary crime writing, which adds to the pleasure.

In all, Past Lying is a very good novel that once more showcases Val’s immense talent. There is also an interesting hint of a new adventure for Karen at the end.

‘It started with a librarian phoning Jason.’

April 2020, and Edinburgh is in Covid-19 lockdown. People are limited to an hour of outdoor exercise a day; businesses are shut, and the streets are unusually empty. DCI Karen Piri, of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit is sharing her boyfriend Hamish’s apartment (he’s away managing his croft) with colleague Daisy, trying to get some work done while navigating the challenges of lockdown. And then DS Jason Murray is contacted by a librarian at the National Library who is cataloguing papers. The archive of a recently deceased crime novelist has been left to the library and one of the documents, a blueprint for a story of abduction and murder, seems uncannily similar to a well-publicised unsolved case.

So, how do Karen Pirie and her team undertake a complex investigation within the constraints imposed by the Covid-19 lockdown? Add to the mix complicated personal and professional lives and Karen’s support for a Syrian refugee and you have the basis of a terrific thriller. And, just in case that is not enough, add in the egos of those who think they are smarter than the police …

This is a terrific read, full of twists and turns and numerous characters to keep track of. Yes, just when I thought I had an answer, Ms McDermid inserted another twist in the tale, and I was kept guessing. I did work out some of the answers but not all of them. While I will now look forward to an eighth book in the series, I’ll try to catch up with the first five books. Somehow, this series slipped under my radar until the sixth book, and I need to know what I have missed.

Ms McDermid is a prolific novel writer and I’ve plenty on my reading list. I wonder it I’ll ever catch up?

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The Karen Pirie series is one of my favorite and this is a wild ride that kept me turning pages and following the clues trying to guess who-did-it
Well plotted, solid, and gripping.
The lockdown atmosphere was eerie and it brought back in the past.
Well done, loved it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I'll start this review by saying that Val McDermid is one of my favourite authors, one of my most read authors (one of the few authors I've read twenty plus books by) and one of the authors who first got me reading Crime.

The Karen Pirie series has been one of the most consistent series
I've read, and each new instalment is eagerly awaited.

Karen Pirie is a cold case detective, which opens up a wide variety of times and places and frees the stories from the humdrum here and now.

Set during lockdown, this case is triggered by a first draft of a novel found in the archives of a deceased crime writer. Details echo a real life missing person's case. Could the novel be based on the real crime committed by the author?

It's a very interesting premise which might feel more psychological thriller than police procedural, so you expect there'll be a twist.

A lot of the book is piecing together the details from the draft of the novel and searching for real life evidence. It feels refreshingly different.

It's quite long, not the fastest, but it held my attention. Not least waiting to see if I had worked out the twist (I had).

The lockdown setting felt strangely dated, it's over two years since I read my first lockdown novel, 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard. The insights into the lives of successful crime writers was interesting, mixing in plenty of references to real life authors.

Aside from the original setup, the final reveal and the breakdown of the meticulous planning of the crime were probably my favourite parts.

If you haven't read the series, then I recommend you start at the beginning, this book wouldn't be a great first taste.

Not bad at all, though not a classic in the series, I hope it's just a case of lockdown limbo.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic

4.5 stars.

Past Lying features the return of Karen Pirie during the beginning of Covid and its lockdown.

Karen is sent a deceased author's manuscript that was found in an archive of his work.

The rules are strict for lockdown which limits the ability of Karen, Daisy and Jason somewhat.

That wont stop Karen, not by any means. In fact it makes her more determined than ever.

Twists and turns, red herrings, some not so nice people, a story within a story keeps the reader turning the pages and unable to put Past Lying down.

When I wasn't reading I certainly was thinking of Karen and the team.

Karen Pirie is a great series and I was excited for her return.

Val McDermid never disappoints and I can't waif for the next adventure/case featuring Karen.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press for a page turning read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance copy of Past Lying, the seventh novel to feature DCI Karen Pirie of Police Scotland’s Historical Crimes Unit, based in Edinburgh.

Karen gets alerted to a manuscript in a dead author’s archive that outlines a perfect murder. It is eerily similar to the real life disappearance of an Edinburgh student, who vanished from her front door a year ago. Karen and the team start using the manuscript as a roadmap and discover more than they bargained for.

I enjoyed Past Lying once it got heated up as I found it quite slow to take off. Once the twists started and some of the secrets were revealed I found myself glued to the pages. It is an interesting premise that offers almost a novel within a novel as the manuscript is included and offers a jumping off point for what follows. I guessed early on where the novel was going, but still enjoyed the parsing of the manuscript for clues, the inferences to be drawn, the ones actually drawn and the resulting actions taken.

This is a 2020 lockdown novel, which will not appeal to all readers with many having firmly placed it in the rear view mirror, but I rather liked it for a multitude of reasons. Karen admits herself that she would not have taken it seriously if she hadn’t been itching for something to do. Then there’s the constraints on physically conducting the investigation, little things like masks hiding reactions and having to conduct interviews outside and socially distanced. The fear of catching the Covid as it’s referred to is ever present and it doesn’t end well for one character. Mainly it is a time for the characters to re-assess their lives and priorities with some surprising changes.

As it is a lockdown novel there is more thinking and assessment than physical activity in the novel. Karen gradually builds her case by examining the manuscript almost line by line. It reveals secrets, twists and a fair amount of lies. I think that the author has been meticulous in her plotting and it shows on the page with everything covered, all the doubts and revisions in Karen’s thinking, even if she keeps some of them initially obscured from the reader and the way it plays out.

Past Lying is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

"In this latest installment to her acclaimed detective series, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid returns with DCI Karen Pirie in a propulsive new thriller of deceit and vengeance, set against the disquiet and investigative challenges of a global pandemic.

Hailed as Britain's "Queen of Crime" (Scotsman), Val McDermid is the award-winning, internationally bestselling author of over thirty novels that have enthralled readers for the past three decades. The long-awaited seventh novel in McDermid's acclaimed Karen Pirie series, Past Lying is a breakneck collision of ego, retribution, and just how far one will go to settle the score.

It's April 2020 and Edinburgh is in lockdown, but that doesn't mean crime takes a holiday. It would seem like a strange time for a cold case to go hot - the streets all but empty, an hour's outdoor exercise the maximum allowed - but when a source at the National Library contacts DCI Karen Pirie's team about documents in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist, it seems it's game on again. What unspools is a twisted game of betrayal and revenge, but no one quite expects how many twists it will turn out to have.

Tense, atmospheric, and relentlessly captivating, Past Lying is another winner from Val McDermid, and new and longtime readers alike will delight in this triumphant return to a stellar series."

I have always been a fan of Val McDermid, but after watching Karen Pirie on BritBox I'm now obsessed with this series.

Once again Val McDermid does not disappoint. A cracking story with plenty of twists and turns all to the backdrop of the 2020 pandemic. The characters jump from the pages as we turn them eagerly to find out the conclusion of what really happened. An excellent read as always.

3.5 stars

In this seventh book in the Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie series, the police investigate the disappearance of an aspiring writer. The book works fine as a standalone.

DCI Karen Pirie of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit (HCU) believes solving cold cases is just as important as solving new ones, to give bereaved people answers. In 2020, however, investigating any case is constrained by the Covid pandemic lockdown. Covid regulations in Scotland mandate that people remain inside except for one hour per day, when they're permitted to go out to take a walk, purchase necessities, and perform other errands.

Karen and her HCU team member, Detective Sergeant Daisy Mortimer, are in lockdown together, staying in the luxurious apartment of Karen's boyfriend, Hamish Mackenzie, who's overseeing his working croft in the Highlands. Karen's other assistant, Detective Constable Jason Murray, is residing with his fiancée, passing the time playing video games.

The HCU is called into action when DC Jason Murray gets a call from an acquaintance named Meera Reddy, who's an archivist at the National Library. Meera has been cataloguing papers from the estate of deceased crime novelist Jake Stein, and Stein's unpublished manuscript, titled 'The Vanishing of Laurel Oliver,' has made Meera uneasy. It seems the victim in the Laurel Oliver story has the same rare seizure malady as a young woman called Lara Hardie, who REALLY disappeared a year ago.

Karen and Daisy get a copy of 'The Vanishing of Laurel Oliver,' which - in a nutshell - has the following plot: A crime writer named Jamie Cobain, whose career is on the skids, is resentful of his fellow scribe Rob Thomas, whose career is on the ascent. Moreover, Jamie's wife is having an affair with Rob. So Jamie decides to murder someone and frame Rob for the crime. Laurel Oliver, a shy, aspiring writer who goes to Jamie's book-signing, is a convenient victim, and Jamie carries out his plan.

Karen and Daisy suspect that fictional murderer Jamie Cobain is really author Jake Stein; fictional rival Rob Thomas is a real-life novelist called Ross McEwen; and Laurel Oliver is really Lara Hardie. The police have some leeway regarding the Covid restrictions, and the HCU gets on the job, using clues in Stein's manuscript to search for Lara Hardie's body. The investigation takes some unexpected turns, and the detectives need all their skills to find the truth.

Karen has to navigate around her difficult boss, Assistant Chief Constable Ann Markie (aka The Dog Biscuit), to pursue the Lara Hardie case, but Karen is determined to bring closure to Lara's heartsick family. The Dog Biscuit has always been a thorn in Karen's side, and Karen fervently hopes Markie gets a Chief Constable job in England.

Meanwhile, the HCU detectives are dealing with issues in their own lives. Karen is helping a Syrian refugee who's the target of assassins for exposing abuse in a Syrian prison. Daisy is trying to sustain an online romance. And Jason's mother is ill with Covid and his petty criminal brother is causing trouble.

In addition to having a clever premise, the novel provides a realistic portrait of the paranoid atmosphere engendered by the Covid pandemic. People are deathly afraid of getting sick, and the HCU detectives must maneuver around lockdown rules to search for clues, interview witnesses, and try to find out what really happened.

Val McDermid is an excellent mystery writer, and this novel is a fine addition to her oeuvre.

Thanks to Netgalley, Val McDermid, and Grove Atlantic for a copy of the book.

4.5 stars. Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy. Having read all the Pirie novels in the past year (and so happy to have discovered this marvelous series and author) I was thrilled to read another Pirie case. Overall the novel met expectations - featuring the wit of McDermid, atmospheric Scottish settings and further character development of Pirie, the Mint and other members of their team and colleagues.
Im not a huge fan of Daisy yet but perhaps she will grow in me. I think my hesitation award 5 stars is that the case was more contemporary than others the HCU tackled and this didn’t delve back into the past, which I have enjoyed in earlier books, especially as characters are faced with their actions from decades earlier. Overall though I cannot fault the plot development and the interesting way cases had to be handled during lockdown. Keep on writing these novels Ms. McDermid as there is a lot more of KP Nut’s story to tell.

This is the seventh book in the series of books Val McDermid has written about DI Karen Pirie, who heads up the Historic Cases Unit (HCU) in Scotland. The book begins in the spring of 2020, just as the whole world has gone into lock down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the lock down, people don't have a lot to do and are already becoming stir crazy. Karen Pirie lives in a "bubble" with her sidekick, Sgt. Daisy Mortimer, in the apartment of Karen's "partner", Hamish Mackenzie. Hamish is off in Scotland running a croft and turning a distillery into a hand-sanitizer factory.

It seems that someone working for the National Archives of Scotland has been reading through and cataloging the papers of a rather famous author who had died about a year earlier, Jake Stein. She sees something suspicious in an unfinished manuscript that she's been reading, so calls a cop friend to check things out. The cop friend passes things along to DI Pirie.

Much of the beginning of the book contains snippets from the un-finished book that Karen and her crew are reading. So, it's kind of a mystery within a mystery. The story evokes some hints of the disappearance of a young woman who had gone missing a year or two previously. The story involves two writers of detective fiction who are friends, who also play chess against each other. One brags that he has a plan to commit the perfect crime. He selects his "victim" at one of his book signings.

Karen and her associates begin trying to correlate the book with the real world. They do find two writers of detective fiction who are friends and who play chess. They find that the young woman on their missing list has attended book signings by one or the other. And so on.

It's a fairly fascinating story of how to connect facts, which initially seem unrelated, until they have figured out the culprit. Along the way, we get to revisit the "good old days" of the COVID lock down.


#PastLying #NetGalley

The Kindle version of Past Lying was loaded with errors preventing me from reading the book. This was quite a disappointment.

A very interesting book as you had two books in one. When one of DCI Karen's associates receives information about a rough copy of a book describing a murder the team starts to work. This is especially exciting since the book's murder story closely follows along with a murder case that they had in their files.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I guessed at the ending it was still a great read.

Special thanks to Netgally and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy.

In this, the seventh in the DCI Karen Pirie police procedurals, it is 2020 and Pirie’s Historic Cases 3 person team joins other Scots in Covid lockdown. They are called back into action when a librarian contacts one of them because a manuscript in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist seems provide an answer as to what happened to a young woman who went missing a year ago. Struggling to comply with lockdown rules and also avoid Pirie’s dreaded superior, “Dog Biscuit”, the team unravels a story of jealousy, deceit, retribution.

This is a clever plot that utilizes the intriguing technique of a book within a book combined with Covid lockdown and the pain many people faced with separation and loss. McDermid paints a vivid picture of Edinburgh and I enjoy her ongoing story of the plight of Syrian refugees in the city. Kudos to her for continuing to shed light on them.

I really like the main character. Pirie is strong, intelligent, empathetic, vulnerable. In her quest for truth and justice for victims’ families, Karen often makes no friends. Constable Jason is endearing. Sargent Daisy can be both earnest and flippant, and I wouldn’t turn my back around her.

This reads well as a stand alone, but reading the prior Pirie books may provide more context. Plus, they are a joy to read. They are among my favorites and are a “must read” for me. Incidentally, Karen Pirie is also a Britbox series.

Past Lying is a novel within a novel, a mystery within a mystery…all set in those early, fear ridden days of Covid. Masks, social distancing and bubbles are all in the background of this superb thriller. A call from a librarian at the National Archives alerts Jason Murray that there may be an odd connection to a cold (or “historic”) case involving the disappearance of University student Lara Hardie. A mention of her unusual epilepsy was found in an unfinished crime novel by a deceased writer whose wife had donated his papers to the Archives. It is the beginning of Covid isolation and Karen Pirie and her team are eager to find a challenge. So Karen and her team of Daisy and Jason start to compare the mystery fragment with the facts of the Hardie case. It will take them deep into a world of psychological drama, twisted fiction and deft plotting but will it reveal what happened to Lara Hardie?

Past Lying, the seventh in the Karen Pirie series, is one of the best books I have read. The plots, Pirie’s and the fragment chapters, are deliciously complicated. The subplots of a tragic refugee’s search for safety and Karen’s own relationship with Hamish only add to the story. I enjoyed seeing chess is a metaphor for twisted actions. Val McDermott has written a mystery masterpiece. Checkmate for her. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic and Val McDermid for this ARC.

From The Cover📖

It’s April 2020 and Edinburgh is in lockdown, but that doesn’t mean crime takes a holiday. It would seem like a strange time for a cold case to go hot—the streets all but empty, an hour’s outdoor exercise the maximum allowed—but when a source at the National Library contacts DCI Karen Pirie’s team about documents in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist, it seems it’s game on again. What unspools is a twisted game of betrayal and revenge, but no one quite expects how many twists it will turn out to have. 

Review⭐️⭐️⭐️

When I saw there was a seventh outing for Karen Pirie and her team I was super excited to get my hands on an ARC. I read all the Pirie novels during lockdown so was even more keen to read this novel set during the pandemic. I begged to get this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you to the author and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this.


As is always the case the story is told in the first person, within this novel we hear from Karen herself and her two junior police colleagues Jason and Daisy whilst at the start of the lockdown in 2020. The historical case unit of police Scotland are not on front line duty during the pandemic and are as such working from home reviewing old case files it while this happening Jason receives a call from a equally bored police contact about a discovery she thinks could be related to a historical missing person case of a young woman . There after kicks off a very unique and intriguing story with sub plots running though. While McDermid’s is always original and fresh she does follow the classic plot arks but presents them in a new way, she is a genius that way, this book shows she is accomplished writer with great story telling skills.

Within this book there was a lot I liked. I loved the book within a book, at times I wanted to read of the book within than the actual novel. The covid setting also interested me I think enough time has passed for books to be set during this time, I felt McDermid captured the sense of what it was like in lockdown and she highlighted the injustice of the differences between how people experienced it, the sub plot with Jason’s mum was truly heartbreaking. I found the covid back story provided great reflection on the situation for the reader. As always the way Scotland, in particular Edinburgh within this novel, is portrayed is perfect the amazing country becomes a character itself with the real to life places described in such detail. I liked the inside look into a writers world. The highlighting of the refugee crisis and the plight of Syria was real added dimension that not raised awareness but also allowed for further character development for Karen, nicely setting up the next book. I really have warmed to Daisy in this book and as always I loved Jason, I appreciated the look into his personal life, it really developed him as more if main character than Karen’s lackey. An added bonus was all the book recommendations scattered within the novel, just started The Skelfs series, a series I had missed so thanks you that I am really enjoying them.

Now for the negative I appreciate that authors will put their own works views in their writing but I have increasingly that with McDermid’s work that she is pushing a political agenda with a too much force, it’s extremely off putting.
The constant stream of support for Nicola Sturgeon is pitiful given what we know now it’s actually quite comical, still time remove the Saint Nicola references before publication.
You can make points without shoving it down folks throat, found the Allie Burns books like and it sad to see Karen going the same way. I found there is too much of trying to be woke it comes across as too obvious and actually looses the point the author is trying to make.
With this book I also found myself going off Karen as a character she is very unlikable in the novel she is very self righteous and arrogant she has become a caricature of a strong female police officer, she actually gives me Nicola Sturgeon vibes which is so off putting.
I found the pacing a bit off with the book normally if I do work out any twists or solution it is late on in the book but with this I worked it all out by chapter 30 and I had idea long before. It seemed rushed and was more I exercise in making political and social points.

While this was good idea it needed some of the old magic to really make it great. I am sure fans will love it and even while it’s not the best in the series it wouldn’t stop me giving the next instalment a go.

Thank you for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! This clever story is part of a series, set in Edinburgh at the beginning of Covid lockdowns. It features favorite cold case detective, DCI Karen Pirie. It is also a book within a book, as detectives try to figure out if clues in an unfinished novel relate to a real life disappearance or murder.
Although this can easily be read as a stand-alone, this is such a good series and it is recommended to read all of this talented writer’s books.

Val McDermid cleans out her bottom drawer. For no reason that I can see, Val McDermid has included vast tracts of another ms in this book. The intention is for us, through an analysis of the text by Karen Pirie and her colleague Detective Sargent Daisy Mortimer as they read through it. The book is set in 2020 and Karen and Daisy are quarantining together in Hamish's flat while Hamish is in the Highlands.

I have all kinds of nits to pick with this book, beginning with how the ms winds up in Karen's hands. The cataloguing librarian who found it must have been bored out of her mind to read it in the course of sorting through boxes of estate papers from the recently deceased author Jake Klein. Why would she do more than assign it a catalog number and move on?

Go ahead and read it, it isn't horrible. Karen, Daisy and their colleague Jason are a good team.

It is Spring 2020, and Scotland is in lockdown as the world faces the Covid-19 pandemic. DCI Karen Pirie has decided to sit out the lockdown in her partner's apartment with DS Daisy Mortimer. The historic cases unit is quiet until a librarian cataloguing a deceased crime fiction author's archives comes across a manuscript. Could it hold the key to a baffling, unsolved disappearance?

Past Lying is an intriguing mystery set right at the pandemic's start. Val McDermid is a master at creating vivid settings and environments and is in top form. McDermid plunges us back into those frightening and disorientating early days and realistically demonstrates the challenges faced by the police conducting serious investigations.

Unlike previous entries, the cast of characters is relatively small. I like this as they're fleshed out. We learn more about Daisy and Jason shines here. Ros, Ross and the deceased Jake are very well done. We see them shift and change as Karen's investigation progresses.

I did guess the solution quite early on. That didn't detract from my enjoyment, as McDermind is a brilliant storyteller, and I enjoyed the ride.

I highly recommend Past Lying and am grateful to the Publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.