Crime writers challenged by forensic science

‘When you have a new development in forensic science, as a crime writer your first thought is how do I work my way around that?

Because these new developments do make for a slightly more complicated environment for us to be working in. If you look back 20 years even, what was available in terms of evidential analysis was really quite low level. The writer had a lot of leeway and could leave forensic traces that were never going to be picked up on.

If you're going to use the forensic stuff you have to get it right. Readers are very sophisticated and very well informed. If you get it wrong it's not just the experts who will haul you over the coals, it's the readers.'

Val McDermid, whose latest book is Splinter the Silence, in the Sunday Telegraph