Garnethill
by Denise Mina
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I was listening to NPR (for Brits - this is the radio equilavlent of the BBC) on my way into work when they interviwed the author. Her special interest is life/ crime/ mental health in Glasgow. Considering my Anthropology disseration was based on the scape-goating of minorities who are labelled with mental disorders this subject really appeals to me. The author was very likeable and it was so enjoyable to hear a voice from home. All I've got to do is find the book/ order it at the libary - yup ...more
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Read in December, 2007
A fantastic mystery with a very satisfying ending! Poor girl who's the heroine, though, has a terrible time of it - she gets drunk with her best friend one night, planning to break up with her married boyfriend, and wakes up the next morning hungover in her bed to find her married boyfriend she was planning to dump murdered in her living room. And she's the number one suspect. She overcomes some personal psychological problems and family drama to solve the mystery. There's at least two more ...more
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This book proved to me that my newly found love for Denise Mina's books is not just because I fell in love with the Paddy meehan" character in the first book of mina's I discovered.
Again, Mina created true, strong characters we care about. The number of main and supporting characters she's able to not only create and involve in the story but is also able to capture our emotion for is impressive. Another strong female lead in this series. Looking forward to the next 2 books.
Again, Mina created true, strong characters we care about. The number of main and supporting characters she's able to not only create and involve in the story but is also able to capture our emotion for is impressive. Another strong female lead in this series. Looking forward to the next 2 books.
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Read in March, 2008
I read this one back in '98 when it first came out and it was my favorite mystery of the year. Gritty and realistic and set in Glasgow, Scotland. I just re-read this for a book group and found new things to appreciate. Very solid mystery with all the clues laid out and an appealing, if very flawed, protagonist in Maureen.
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Four fifths of a really good book is, somehow, worse than half of a really good book or a 100% mediocre book.
I liked a lot about Denise Mina's writing. Strong on atmosphere, sharp dialogue, smartly drawn characters, deft handling of material with lots of potential for melodrama. And even after the migraine inducing letdown towards the end, I continued to admire the handling of the characters and the way the ending undercut some of the expected satisfactions (for both reader and main character)...more
I liked a lot about Denise Mina's writing. Strong on atmosphere, sharp dialogue, smartly drawn characters, deft handling of material with lots of potential for melodrama. And even after the migraine inducing letdown towards the end, I continued to admire the handling of the characters and the way the ending undercut some of the expected satisfactions (for both reader and main character)...more
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Read in March, 2008
Meet Maureen O’Donnell: member of a dysfunctional family, struggling to survive a history of abuse and to find her own way in the world. Maureen has a relationship with Douglas, a therapist, which she is about to end. When Douglas is found murdered in Maureen’s flat, Maureen is a suspect. The investigation into the murder raises a number of issues from Maureen’s past, and for a number of other people as well.
Who murdered Douglas and why? There seem to be plenty of people with suffici...more
Who murdered Douglas and why? There seem to be plenty of people with suffici...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
slummers who never had to leave home to find the slums
[continued from above:]
So how can literary productions provide the sort of ground for people to be born? What is it about certain pieces of fiction that make it seem like we want to live again? What James might call “the interventions that relativize discourse into rhetoric,” another person might enact by placing their palms over their ears and hollering. It doesn't change what anybody says, but it might just make it a little easier to surpass. Or, if you repeat back to someone what ...more
So how can literary productions provide the sort of ground for people to be born? What is it about certain pieces of fiction that make it seem like we want to live again? What James might call “the interventions that relativize discourse into rhetoric,” another person might enact by placing their palms over their ears and hollering. It doesn't change what anybody says, but it might just make it a little easier to surpass. Or, if you repeat back to someone what ...more
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Read in April, 2008
Mina’s protagonist is the most unlikely crime solver I’ve ever encountered. Maureen O’Donnell has had severe mental health issues, and stuck in a menial job at a theatre ticket office. She’s sleeping with one of the married psychologists from her clinic (though at least not her personal psychologist) and her family, besides for her drug dealer brother, don’t believe her about her childhood sexual abuse and think she’s insane. When her psychologist boyfriend is found murdered in her a...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
The main character is very interesting. Maureen is a troubled young woman who is trying her very best to function in a difficult world. This Glasgow is dark and dreary, it is always raining and full of threatening people. Maureen's family are the most threatening; abusive parents, distant and judgemental sisters and a beloved, but troubled brother. Maureen's decision making abilities are weak and involves her with a married man, which is the beginning of all the problems. Throughout the boo...more
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Read in January, 2006
One of the few contemporary crime/mystery novels that has succeeded in grabbing me at least enough for me to finish the book. Mina's writing stumbles more often than I'd like and she misspells a (forgotten) 80's rock band in an attempt to up her main character's hipness factor, but her characters are relatively rich, the plot moves excitingly and her knowledge of mental illness, abuse and psychology make the book more than merely a "thriller." I've yet to read her later books but hop...more
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Read in January, 1999
Mina is the BEST. I don't usually read this genre, but I find myself heading over to the mass market mysteries in the bookstore to see if The Dead Hour, the one following Field of Blood, is there yet. Garnethill kicks off her first series, so start here and work through all three. They weren't published all that well in the US - she's a Scottish writer and only hooked up in the US with Little Brown for this current series - but if you can grab a copy, you'll end up eating all three right up.
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Sheryl by:
NPR
The main character, Maureen O'Donnell, is flawed, yet tries to do the right thing by people she cares for. She was abused by her father as a child, but her family doesn't believe her. When her lover is sadistically murdered in her apartment, she does her own investigating and plots a daring revenge. With gritty, street smart characters and charming Scottish dialect, the book is fascinating, but also disturbing. It wasn't quite my cup of tea.
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Read in January, 1999
While recovering from a nervous breakdown, Maureen O'Donnell must prove not only her sanity but also her innocence to the police after her boyfriend is found dead in her apartment with his throat slashed.
Fast-paced. Intense. Likeable but quirky heroine. Winner of the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel -- the British equivalent of the Edgar Award. Highly recommend!
Fast-paced. Intense. Likeable but quirky heroine. Winner of the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel -- the British equivalent of the Edgar Award. Highly recommend!
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Read in January, 2008
I recently started reading P.D. James and wanted a break so tried Denise Mina. I was shocked at how intelligent and brutal her presentations of social issues were in each of these three books. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THESE. They are quick reads; I definitely had some nightmares by the third in the trilogy, though.
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Read in January, 2010
this is the first of a trilogy by mina. awesome scottish crime novels with an alcoholic female protagonist. at first i thought it might be too dark, but i got hooked. i read them all in a row. i usually can't do that, but these were endlessly fascinating. now i'm going to read everything she has in print.
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Read in April, 2008
This is an unconventional mystery with an unlikely detective heroine. Maureen comes from a very disfunctional family, and was a victim of sexual abuse. She is initially accused of a murder, and drawn to the plight of other women victimized by sexual abuse, she looks for the murderer.
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Read in December, 2007
Maureen is a snide working-class broad, but her inner wounds and sharp intellect make her oh-so-compelling. Stir in the harshly poetic descriptions of Glasgow's seedy underbelly and you've got a novel that well earns its Creasey Dagger.
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This book was so well done, so well crafted. I was suprised by the plot all the way through and loved the scottish dialogue. It did give a me a terrible craving for all kinds of biscuits for tea.
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Very, very dark, in the genre of Mystic Hill. But a good mystery which transcends the genre with compelling characters and storylines which were more important than the central mystery.
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A great mystery without a "detective", rather real people trying to live life in Glasgow after growing up in a dysfunctional family. You care about these characters at the end and want more.
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