Today, I am chatting once again with Val Penny, this time about Murder at Cramond, the sixth novel in her Detective Hunter Wilson Mysteries series.
Hunter Wilson should have every reason to celebrate. He and Meera have become engaged, and an evening at an Edinburgh hotel ought to mark the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their lives. Instead, Hunter is confronted with a horrifically injured woman and an investigation that will lead his team into a race to identify a dangerous predator before another victim is targeted.
Val joins me today to talk about placing a survivor at the heart of the investigation, developing Hunter and Meera's relationship alongside the crime series, and why, in Hunter Wilson's Edinburgh, appearances can be very deceptive.
Publication Date: 24th August 2026
Murder at Cramond begins at what should be one of the happiest moments of Hunter Wilson’s life—celebrating his engagement to Meera—before he is confronted with a horrifically injured woman. What inspired you to bring those two emotional extremes together so dramatically?
Murder in Cramond is unique in that the prologue to the story is contained in a separate short story entitled Cats and Dogs which originally appeared in a charity Anthology Dark Scotland. It is not essential to read the short story to enjoy the novel, but I was conscious that the story did not resolve all the issues it contained. The crime which takes place occurs in an expensive Edinburgh hotel is the perfect place for Hunter and Meera also to celebrate their engagement. This provides the perfect juxtaposition for the start of the story.
Eileen Maguire is different from the killer’s previous victims because she survives and becomes Hunter’s only witness. How did having a survivor at the centre of the investigation change the way you approached the mystery?
It was pivotal to the story that Eileen must survive because her strength in facing adversity is an integral part of the plot. She can give first-hand evidence that is helpful to the investigation, but there is a limit to what she knows and developing the solution from the details Eileen gives made me consider the perpetrator differently from the way I have done in the past. As a writer that was a lot of fun.
Hunter has very little to work with initially beyond the name “Frederick”. What challenges did you set yourself in creating an investigation where the police know another attack may be coming but have so little information about the person they are hunting?
When I was plotting this book, I effectively worked backwards. I knew the beginning of the tale because I had written the short story, but then I plotted the end of the story and worked forward. I developed various characters who could be ‘Frederick’ and Hunter’s team worked with from the information Eileen could give them to uncover the perpetrator.
The killer uses the online world to approach his victims, presenting himself as charming, patient, and trustworthy. What interested you about exploring the vulnerability that can come with believing we know someone we have met online?
People may say they have hundreds, or even thousands of friends. What they are really referring to is the number of contacts they have online. (I don’t believe it is possible to have more than five or six true friends.) However Eileen lacks self-confidence and so she is vulnerable and accepts the approach made by ‘Frederick’ in good faith. It was important to me develop a scenario with which the readers could empathise.
The victims are connected by a particularly disturbing element—the killer is targeting women because of their unusual eyes. How did you develop such a distinctive signature for the crimes without allowing the darker aspects of the story to overwhelm the mystery itself?
I often use Jamie Thomson and his family as the comedy foils when the story becomes dark. It may seem odd to use career criminals as comic relief, but Jamie is such an unsuccessful criminal that I feel able to do that. In order to soften the wickedness in this book, I ensured that Eileen had a close relationship with Jamie and so he could realistically lighten the story.
Hunter and Meera’s relationship has developed across the series, and in this novel they have reached the point of becoming engaged. How important is their personal story to you alongside the murder investigations?
I believe that it is vital, in order for the series to be interesting and realistic, that the personal lives of the characters require to develop across the series as well as the crime in each novel being satisfactorily solved.
Having studied at the University of Edinburgh, you know the city well. How does that personal familiarity influence the way you use locations such as Cramond Beach and Ravelston Wood, and do you find yourself seeing familiar places differently when imagining them as settings for crime?
I choose places around the city for different crimes, but I admit that I do not dwell on those incidents, nor do I let Hunter’s stories impinge on my love of this beautiful city.
A race-against-time investigation creates a very different kind of tension from solving a murder after the danger has passed. How do you control the pace while maintaining the suspense surrounding who might be targeted next?
The story requires to be structured and layered so that it continues to move forward while the tension is retained for the enjoyment of the reader. Hunter’s team have a variety of challenges to overcome and these allow me to control the pace within the book.
By Book 6, Hunter’s professional and personal worlds have become increasingly intertwined. Do you find that knowing him so well makes him easier to write, or does maintaining his development across a long-running series present new challenges?
I find Hunter easy to write because I know I can trust him. I know how he, and the members of his team all react in any given circumstance. However, this does not mean I cannot develop the characters and allow the readers to experience their reactions to the different crimes I throw at them.
Murder at Cramond confronts Hunter with a killer who can appear perfectly ordinary and trustworthy. Without giving anything away, what do you hope stays with readers after they discover the truth behind the investigation?
Never judge a book by its cover! Criminals come in all shapes and sizes and, may be male or female, rich or poor. In the detective Hunter Wilson Mysteries, everyone may be a suspect.
A huge thank you to Val Penny for joining me again and telling us more about Murder at Cramond.
If you enjoy Scottish crime fiction, race-against-time investigations, evolving characters and mysteries where almost anybody could be hiding something, then Murder at Cramond is certainly one to add to your reading list. Pick up your copy HERE. Read with #KindleUnlimited
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Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx