Maureen O'Donnell investigates the murder of Ann Harris, who'd had two broken ribs and reeked of alcohol when she'd visited Maureen's office at the women's shelter two weeks before her mutilated body washed up by the Thames hundreds of miles away. Maureen travels to London to search out the circumstances surrounding Ann's brutal death.
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Maureen O'Donnell investigates the murder of Ann Harris, who'd had two broken ribs and reeked of alcohol when she'd visited Maureen's office at the women's shelter two weeks before her mutilated body washed up by the Thames hundreds of miles away. Maureen travels to London to search out the circumstances surrounding Ann's brutal death.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Dust jacket has light scratches/marks and outer edges have minor scuffs. Textblock has a Black pen mark. Textblock has shelf wear. Reading content is in very good condition. Despatched within 24 hours. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 364 p.
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Seller's Description:
As New in Near Fine jacket. Book 1st ed. Fine in dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. Two reviews are laid in. Follow up to her award winning first novel. Set in Glasgow. "Following her Creasy Award-winning debut, Garnethill (1999), Mina delivers a second powerful novel with the same self-destructive characters, notably protagonist Maureen O'Donnell, and the same grim, gritty British locales. Maureen, while working at a shelter for abused women in Glasgow, gets pulled into the search for a missing shelter client, Ann Harris, the wife of her friend Leslie's feckless cousin, Jimmy. When Ann's mutilated corpse turns up in the Thames, Maureen agrees to go to London to investigate for Leslie, in part to escape her depressing life, burdened by flashbacks to her lover's murder, fights with her new boyfriend, a job she dislikes, estrangement from her alcoholic mother, and a long-absent abusive father whose sudden return frightens her and haunts her dreams. In seedy Brixton, a closed and suspicious community where grungy exile Glaswegians deal dope and brutalize one another, Maureen soon discovers to her peril that Ann was running dope and money between London and Glasgow for a violent criminal. All the characters are richly drawn, though especially brilliant are Mina's depictions of the forlorn Jimmy--unemployed, hapless, lovingly caring for his four "weans"--and of the ambivalent Maureen, aggressive and needy, independent yet desirous of affection, confident of the future but unable to purge the demons of her past. This is the second in a planned trilogy by a writer of stunning talent and accomplishment."--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
This was a wonderful follow-up to "Garnethill". The characters developed further and the plot thickened. I think it could have been a "stand-alone" mystery, but I read all three and it was just right in the middle. After reading this trilogy, I'm definitely interested in reading more books by Denise Mina. She writes stories with atypical protagonists who are also very believable. No glamor in her world! Just regular folks with regular lives that don't always work out so well. The book was riveting and it was hard to stop! For me, though, it was a typical "second" in a series: not quite as good as the first or third, but since those WERE so good, it was easy to forgive.