QUEEN MACBETH by Val McDermid

Val McDermid was always a dead cert for a Darkland Tales book. Since the series’ inception, fans could only dream of what Scotland’s queen of crime might bring to that country’s bloody history. I’m a little embarrassed to admit my surprise at finding out she was taking on Macbeth because I had always assumed him to be an invention of Shakespeare. Not that I’m completely off the mark because the Scottish play (as it’s fondly known) is very much an act of ahistorical revisionism that bears little resemblance to what actually happened.

In Queen Macbeth, McDermid seeks to reclaim the story and, at the same time, rescue King and Lady Macbeth from their Bard-smirched reputations. It’s a noble project, even if I found it a bit discombobulating at first, trying to reconcile the story beats and characters with my crappy memory of the play.

Unfortunately, McDermid seems a bit too earnest in her undertaking. Queen Macbeth lacks the imaginative flair of the best Darkland Tales, and shares a bit too much with Alan Warner’s contribution. In both, fallen leaders seek to escape to safety under cloak of darkness. They might have benefited from allowing in some light.

Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid
Polygon Books, 2024
127 pages