An event hosted by Nicola Sturgeon and Val McDermid celebrating their love of books will also include a bestselling thriller author and a comedian.

Val McDermid and Nicola Sturgeon’s In The Company of Books will take place on December 15 at 4pm at the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.

The “festive in-conversation event” will reunite the ex-first minister of Scotland with her crime author friend as they explore the joys of reading.

Award-winning actor Alan Cumming and bestselling author Paula Hawkins will join as special guests.

Cumming is a Bafta, Emmy, Tony and Olivier award-winning actor who appeared in GoldenEye (1995) and CBS series The Good Wife (2010–16) and cited both women as “inspirations”.

Hawkins is the author of The Girl On The Train, which became a global phenomenon, selling more than 23 million copies and ranking as a number one bestseller around the world.

Her subsequent thrillers, Into The Water and A Slow Fire Burning, were also bestsellers and her new novel, The Blue Hour, was published to acclaim earlier in the year.

Cumming said: “Val and Nicola are both huge inspirations to me, and I can’t wait to share a stage to talk about our shared passion for books.”

Hawkins said: “There are few things I like more than a trawl through someone’s bookshelves, so I’m looking forward to having a good chat with Val and Nicola about the books we’ve loved and been inspired by over the years.”