‘Val is a member of the crime writer’s dog fraternity, if you can call a border terrier a dog and not an animated teddy bear. Val once saw a photog raph of my dog, and said, “That is one ugly dog. Even for Glasgow that is an ugly dog.” (She was just stating the obvious as my dog is hideous, a cross between a haggis and a komodo dragon.)

‘My best memory of Val was singing with her and Tania Carver on the sofa at a publishing party in London. We were singing the theme tune to ‘When the Boat Comes In’ and two posh folk walked past. I heard one of them say with a dismissive wave of the hand: “Oh don’t worry about them. They are from the North”.’

From The Killer Cookbook editor, Caro Ramsay

Russian Stuffed Aubergine
By Val McDermid
From The Killer Cookbook

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 medium aubergines
Olive oil
100g pecorino cheese
100g walnuts
100g rocket
80g parmesan shavings

Execution

Slice the aubergines thinly on the diagonal to make a dozen long oval slices. Fry in batches
in hot oil and set aside to cool. Chop cheese and walnuts to breadcrumb consistency and
mix together. (It’s best to do this in an electrical chopper but you can do it by hand.) Place
a generous teaspoon of the cheese and nut mix on an aubergine slice and roll it up. Serve
garnished with rocket and Parmesan shavings and a light dressing of olive oil.

The Killer Cookbook was published to raise funds for Professor Sue Black’s Million for a Morgue campaign at the University of Dundee. Though the morgue is now up and running, all funds from the ongoing sale of the book will go to buy more state of the art forensic equipment: http://www.millionforamorgue.com/content/killer-cookbook