The University has committed £1m to the project but a further  £1m needs to be raised. Accordingly bestselling author Val  McDermid (right) has been signing up her crime writing colleagues across the world to join the fundraising campaign.

Early to supporters are Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen and Stuart MacBride.

“We will be the first University in the UK to exclusively use Thiel embalming and it is an area where, working together with other colleagues in the University, we can make real breakthroughs and change the face of scientific, medical and dental research and training,”said (left) Professor Black.

The link-up between the morgue project and the crime writers has come about through the friendship between Val McDermid and Professor Black.

“I’ve known Sue for years and she has helped me tremendously with a lot of the sort of grisly technical detail that goes into my books,” said McDermid. “When she told me about the project for the new mortuary I thought this was a chance for myself and other writers to give something back to a community that is of tremendous value to us.”

Stuart MacBride commented, “It's not often that crime writers get to give something back to that community - other than buying them drinks, of course - so I'm delighted to be involved in helping Sue raise money for a new mortuary. And the fact that it'll help develop the next generation of experts who'll then help out the next generation of crime writers is a huge bonus too.”

Tess Gerritsen said, “I write merely fiction, but these scientists work in the  real world of death investigation, a field that is sadly underfunded. How wonderful that that my fictional detectives can now help support the true detectives.”

Professor Black is delighted to have the crime writers on board for her fundraising project. She and Val McDermid appeared together at the  Borders Book Festival in Melrose this weekend, talking about their work together.

Professor Black and other members of the CAHID team feature in the major BBC2 series `History Cold Case’, which showcases their expertise across the field of human identification. Second series of the programme begins on BBC2 on Thursday June 23. Episode 1: The bodies in the well