They are Glesga lassies – intelligent, vulnerable, brave and real. They are very far removed from your run of the mill, cool and glamorous creatures that pepper the detective novel genre. Mina’s characters seem strangely familiar and both these heroines experience life in a very recognisable way. Maureen, like Mina’s other young heroine, the journalist Paddy Meehan, is absolutely endearing. With ‘Exile’ and ‘Resolution’ completing the Garnethill Trilogy, Maureen O’Donnell – a most complex heroine – became fixed firmly in my mind as she struggled to deal with her mental health problems, family issues and Glasgow’s darker side. Since her first novel ‘Garnethill’ won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasy Dagger Award for the best first crime novel in 1998, she has continued to produce gripping tales addressing a range of ‘uncomfortable’ topics.
She writes thought provoking newspaper articles but most of all she has gained international recognition for her wonderful crime novels. I loved her short play Ida Tamson (part of OranMor’s A Play, A Pie, and A Pint series) – and wrote a review about it. In her fairly short career she has been incredibly prolific producing a number of short stories, a series of graphic comics for Hellblazer, and now a graphic novel. But up she pops at numerous literary festivals and events smiling happily, chatting about her writing, speaking of her views on life and reassuring us that yet another book is on its way. Thankfully they just keep coming and I am amazed at her productivity – a busy mother of young children and part of a large extended family – she has a lot going on in her life.
Denise Mina is one of Scotland’s most talented writers and when you have finished one of her books you just can’t wait for the next.
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