Sources close to the best-selling crime writer Val McDermid have revealed she is “increasingly frustrated” about innuendo surrounding her relationship with Nicola Sturgeon.
The former First Minister revealed on Monday that her 15-year marriage to Peter Murrell had been over “for some time”. It then emerged that she had been staying at a £320,000 flat owned by McDermid in Edinburgh’s New Town.
However, the Scottish edition of Times reported that Sturgeon has “no immediate plans” to move out of the marital home in Glasgow. In addition, McDermid lives in a separate property in the city with her wife, the St Andrews University professor Jo Sharp.
Sources told the same newspaper that they were “very happily married” and said: “The implication here is that Val is having an extra-marital affair, which is both laughable and offensive.”
READ MORE: Inside Nicola Sturgeon’s marriage to Peter Murrell, from fairytale wedding to painful miscarriage and ultimate downfall
McDermid, 69, and Sturgeon, 54, have been friends for almost a decade and have forged a professional relationship in recent years thanks to the former SNP leader’s well-documented love of literature.
They spoke on stage at the Edinburgh Winter Festival in December and are scheduled to host another event called “Books and Banter” at the Glasgow Comedy Festival in March.
Val McDermid married Jo Sharp in 2016
In addition, Sturgeon is working on her memoirs and has described how McDermid had given her some blunt advice about dealing with writer’s block, telling her to “stop f***ying about on WhatsApp and just get on with it”.
In April last year Murrell, 60, was charged in connection with embezzlement of SNP funds as part of the long-running Operation Branchform probe. Sturgeon was arrested and released without charge but remains under investigation.
Another source told the Times: “This isn’t an acrimonious divorce. It is two people who care for one another but no longer want to be in a marriage together so there is no rush to move.”
For more news, follow us on Facebook and Twitter but never miss the latest top headlines and sign up to our daily newsletter here.