Author on finding right TV star to play her fictional cop and why she’s fighting law change

he dark corners and sticky issues that make her ovels so compelling.

She said: “It’s important we have the freedom o discuss everything. It’s when they become aboo that things get out of hand, people are olarised and pushed into silos.”

At the moment, Justice Secretary umza Yousaf is reconsidering the ll, which she does not think sets out o stifle free speech.

She said: “People are too fast to see onspiracy where it’s mostly human ror. I don’t think this is some terrible vil conspiracy to imprison the riters of Scotland. going to upset anyone who’s been directlyly affected by the pandemic.”

DCI Pirie is the latest of Val’s characters to makeke the jump to television. The company behind Linene Of Duty and The Bodyguard is making threeee two-hour episodes based on the first book shehe appears in, The Distant Echo.

And Val is adamant that the TV version of Karen, who was brought up in a Methil council house and left schoolol at 16 to join what she calls “the polis”, will be a Fifer like her.

She said: “I’ve insisted at the very least on an east coast accent. There’s no hostility to that, they are not rolling their eyes.

“I made the point that people in ScotlaScotland watching thithis are going to be rightly p****d off ifi it’s someone witwith a Glasgow acceaccent pretending to be Karen Pirie.” ThiThis doesn’t mean that tthe star of the new shshow has to have a KY postcode.p Val said: “I’m not saying it has to be an actor from Fife. AcActors are very good at accents.a I’ve no problem withw someone from DunoDunoon if they can do the accent.”acc

In the booksbooks, Val gives Karen the odd Fife expression – taking the mince, radged, breenged in – but only when it’s obvious what it means. She said: “I have to be careful. I contextualise all the time. These books are read not just by people in Fife and Scotland but by people all over