An unfinished manuscript and an unsolved cold case: The brilliant and headstrong Scottish investigator Karen Pirie solves her seventh case in the crime novel "The Gift of Lies" by bestselling author Val McDermid. Years ago, student Lara Hardie disappeared from her doorstep in Edinburgh - to this day, there are no usable leads, no clues, no body. Until a call from a librarian presents DCI Karen Pirie with a mysterious new case: A manuscript was found in the estate of a recently deceased author, the plot of which bears a chilling resemblance to the cold case of the missing student. The manuscript seems to be the key to finally uncovering what happened to Lara Hardie. There’s just one problem: the author died before he could finish it. As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a game of betrayal and revenge, where lies and truth are indistinguishable, leading to more than one unexpected twist. A devilishly clever case from the internationally successful crime series featuring Karen Pirie. British Queen of Crime Val McDermid is once again in top form: the seventh crime novel about cold case investigator Karen Pirie is cleverly plotted, intricately surprising, and breathlessly suspenseful until the last page. The psychologically sophisticated, multi-layered crime series set in Edinburgh has been published in the following order: Echo of a Winter Night, Night Under Day, The Long Breath of the Past, The Meaning of Death, The Grave in the Moor, A Picture of Malice, The Gift of Lies.