From Toppings bookshop to Tailend fish and chip shop, Fife author Val McDermid talks all things St Andrews.
What springs to mind when you think of St Andrews?
Mostly the locations that inspired The Distant Echo – the Pictish cemetery on Hallow Hill, the graveyard of the cathedral, the bottle dungeon in the castle.
But also St Salvator’s Quad at the university, walking through there when I was awarded an honorary degree with my partner who is a professor there – that was a moment I’ll never forget.
And of course, the excellent Toppings bookshop in Greyfriars Gardens.
They’ve always been so supportive of my work.
Where do you stay when you visit St Andrews?
We have a cottage in the East Neuk so that’s where we stay when I have to come to St Andrews.
Most memorable night out you’ve had here?
Filming the night shots for Karen Pirie [the television series based on her Inspector Karen Pirie novels].
Favourite restaurant in St Andrews and why?
I love the fish and chips we get in the East Neuk so I’m always drawn to Tailend, whose fish suppers are superb.
And if I’ve got room afterwards, a visit to Jannettas for an ice cream.
I’m looking forward to visiting Rusacks now they’ve taken on Billy Boyter as executive chef.
His restaurant in Anstruther was one of the best I have ever eaten in, and we were really sad to see it close. He’s such an imaginative chef, and I admire his commitment to local produce.
Best place in St Andrews when you’re looking for inspiration?
The West Sands. Walking along the beach blows away the cobwebs and helps my imagination run free.
We also go often to Tentsmuir Forest; walking among the trees and back along the beach is a joy.
What is your first memory in St Andrews?
It’s not my first memory but it’s a very vivid one.
When I was growing up in Fife, there wasn’t much opportunity to try exotic cuisines.
But when I was fifteen, my pal Fiona Pow and I made it into the final of a schools debating trophy run by the St Andrews student debating club.
Before the debate they took us to a Chinese restaurant [The Oriental House] on Market Street – it’s still there to this day.
It was the first Chinese meal I’d ever eaten and it blew my socks off!
We won the debate, but honestly, by that point I didn’t care. Nothing could have trumped my first Chinese!
Best place for a coffee stop in St Andrews?
I like Taste on North Street. A consistently good flat white!
How is 2024 going for you?
Don’t ask…
What are you up to with work at the moment?
… because I’m in the middle of writing the next Karen Pirie novel so my head is full of wee motors!
But my respite is having the opportunity to talk about my new novella, a re-imagining of Queen Macbeth, which tells the story of the real wife of Macbeth, which is very different from the familiar but inaccurate tale of sound and fury signifying nothing, as told by Shakespeare!
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