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Reading lists

So good it’s criminal: Penguin authors pick their favourite crime novels

The NEW page-turning thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Conviction

Confidence

‘Riveting and fast-paced’ Sunday Times

A MISSING FILMMAKER. A STOLEN ANTIQUE. SOMEONE WILL KILL TO STOP THEM BEING FOUND... 
 
'Denise Mina is crime-writing royalty' Val McDermid, author of A Place of Execution 
 
When filmmaker, Lisa Lee goes missing, alongside a priceless Roman silver casket, there is no doubt the two are linked together. 
 
The day after her vanishing, the casket is listed for auction in Paris with a reserve price of fifty million euros. 
 
On a thrilling chase across Europe to discover what happened to Lisa, journalists Anna and Fin are caught up in a world of international art smuggling, billionaire con artists and religious zealotry. 
______________________________ 
 
'Riveting, fast-paced' 
Sunday Times 
 
'A joy to read' 
Daily Telegraph 
 
'A cinematic thriller... Hitchcockian' 
The Times 
 
*A Scotsman Book of the Year* 
 
*PRE-ORDER THE SECOND MURDERER. Journey through the shadowy underbelly of 1950s LA with iconic detective Philip Marlowe in Denise Mina's new murder mystery. Out in July 2023. *

Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions

Denise Mina is crime-writing royalty

A cinematic thriller... Hitchcockian

[It is Mina's] sulphurous wit that makes her books a joy to read

A playful novel, written with energy, inventiveness and glee

Intriguing, touching, often very funny and full of ideas

Outrageously enjoyable. A rollicking mystery populated by unforgettable characters - like Indiana Jones on acid.

Denise Mina is amazing and Confidence is just a delight; poignant, heartbreaking, dark and hilarious. I so want to be part of the gang with Anna, Fin, Bram, and Marcos as they charge across Europe. Such a perfect and thrilling adventure!

A fun, thrilling and perfectly plotted adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat

Mina's storytelling is always vivid and exciting, and Anna is a complex, well-rounded figure

One of the most talented, most daring, most humane writers of the past twenty years

Denise Mina brilliantly manages to be funny, heart-wrenching, gut-punching and addictive all at once

The excellent Denise Mina's latest is an irresistible thriller... A considerably sassier and much funnier alternative to The Da Vinci Code and its kind

The sequel to the joyously funny Conviction... although there's a laugh on nearly every page, it's not short on thrills

A playful novel, written with energy, inventiveness and glee

This romp unfolds as a glorious spoof of The Da Vinci Code but it's not short on thrills

*FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR* 
 
'Such a delight: playful, fast-paced, and entirely compulsive' Ann Cleeves 
'Denise Mina is crime writing royalty' Val McDermid 
'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions' Ian Rankin 
 
____________________________ 
 
When filmmaker, Lisa Lee, goes missing alongside a priceless Roman silver casket, there is no doubt the two are linked together. 
 
The day after her vanishing, the casket is listed for auction in Paris with a reserve price of fifty million euros. 
 
On a thrilling chase across Europe to discover what happened to Lisa, journalists Anna and Fin are caught up in a world of international art smuggling, billionaire con artists and religious zealotry. 
 
Deception. Theft. Murder. All you need is confidence.

The Less Dead

A brilliant, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching new thriller about identity and the value of a life, from the award-winning author of The Long Drop and Conviction.

<H3>THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR</H3> 
<H3>SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 COSTA NOVEL AWARD </H3> 
 
'This is crime writing of the highest order' The Times 
 
When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found. 
 
Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer, for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone... 
 
*NOMINATED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD* 
*A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020, SELECTED BY LEE CHILD* 
 
<H3>CONFIDENCE, THE NEW NOVEL BY DENISE MINA, IS AVAILABLE NOW</H3> 
_______________________________________________________ 
 
PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR DENISE MINA: 
'More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer' Sunday Express on The Less Dead 
'Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel' Mail on Sunday on The Less Dead 
'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions and never fails to deliver' Ian Rankin 
'You won't be able to put Conviction down' Reese Witherspoon 
'Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good' Daily Express on The Long Drop 
'An atmospheric recreation of a vanished Glasgow...and a compelling exploration of the warped criminal mind' The Times on The Long Drop: Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade 
'Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit' Sunday Times and International Bestselling Author, Karin Slaughter 
____________________________________________________ 
 
READERS LOVE THE LESS DEAD: 
'One of the best books you'll read' ***** 
'Unputdownable' ***** 
'Gripping' ***** 
'An intelligent, gripping and compassionate crime novel' *****

This is crime writing of the highest order

More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer

Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel

Always compelling and frightening, Mina's latest novel is full of tough-minded compassion. She is probably the most interesting crime writer at work today

The Long Drop is not just a success and a thrilling read in its own right, but a game-changer for the genre

A gripping plot and compelling characters

The Long Drop is a beautifully written book, a masterpiece by the woman who may be Britain’s finest living crime novelist.

Not a single word is wasted in this beautifully written novel. Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good, it is possibly Mina’s finest achievement.

Mina writes with wonderful wit and compassion

A brilliant thriller gripping with menace, but also a clear-eyed examination of female friendship and toxic masculinity. Denise Mina, a true original, can make you gasp in horror and laugh out loud on the same page

Mark Sanderson, The Times, *Books of the Year*

The Less Dead is one of the best crime novels I have read in ages... fast-paced, deftly-drawn... Denise Mina compellingly catches the tone of voice of angry, abandoned, drug-zonked Glaswegian women

Mina has written the year's best crime novel

A brilliant thriller dripping with menace... Denise Mina, a true original, can make you grasp in horror and laugh out loud on the same page

Joan Smith, The Times, *Crime Novel of the Year*

The always-wonderful Denise Mina with The Less Dead, notable as ever for its story, characters and setting

Lee Child, Daily Express, *Books of the Year*

Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit

Sunday Times and International Bestselling Author, Karin Slaughter

Denise Mina is the author of the Garnethill trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series. She has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice and was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2014. The Long Drop, her latest novel, won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year and the Gordon Burn Prize. Denise has also written plays and graphic novels, and presented television and radio programmes. She lives and works in Glasgow.

THE THRILLING NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Conviction

The start of a brilliant new series from an exceptional, award-winning crime writer.

Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions

This highly original, ballsy thriller is like nothing you have read – or Denise Mina has written – before

You won't be able to put Conviction down

It is clear from the very start of Denise Mina’s Conviction quite how much fun she – and her readers – are about to have… Mina is such a classy writer and Anna is a darkly brilliant creation

A twisting, darkly comic, thrill-a-minute ride across Europe. If you loved Killing Eve, you'll devour Conviction

A mischievous sense of fun exists alongside a capacity to generate genuine edge-of-your-seat thrills and some thought-provoking moments. You won’t have more fun with a book this year

Gripping, intricate and wonderfully twisty . . . Superb

Denise Mina brilliantly manages to be funny, heart-wrenching, gut-punching and addictive all at once: a fabulous, captivating novel

One of the most talented, most daring, most humane writers of the past twenty years . . . Conviction is her finest work to date: a dark star of a novel, blazingly intense, up-to-the-minute fresh, and exciting as all hell

A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

Endlessly surprising... This incredible novel...seems to have been written in a white-hot rage.... Mina has always written with a head full of ideas and a mouth full of tough talk. Here, she’s finally got a story big enough to hold it all together.

Such a delight: playful, fast-paced, and entirely compulsive

A thoroughly modern tale of sexual and financial predation and social media… compelling

Conviction is one of those rare and perfect titles, meaning both a belief profoundly held and to have been found guilty. The genius of the novel is that it reiterates that old phrase that a wise man once said – “the truth will set you free” – and it does so via fiction

With sophisticated, ingenious plotting, this is a real read-in-one-go book. If you haven’t yet discovered Denise Mina, you’re in for a treat!

Grimly hilarious, emotional and addictive, it ends with a barmy didn’t-see-that-coming denouement

Mina…pulls it off with her customary flair and a final flourish

Darkly comic with an intricate plot, it’s a thrilling adventure with a really rather fabulous heroine

[Conviction] is almost impossible to put down

The funniest crime novel of the year sees the unstoppable Mina tackling #MeToo with an acerbic eye

An original idea carried out well. Mina’s storytelling is always vivid and exciting, and Anna is a complex, well-rounded figure

Denise Mina is always brilliant, but Conviction is I think her best yet – joyously dark, comic, loads of fun

Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit

Not a single word is wasted in this beautifully written novel. Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good, it is possibly Mina’s finest achievement

A wonderfully atmospheric, unsettling read.

Deeply unsettling and thought provoking in all the best ways

The Long Drop is an exceptional book. The pages reek of fifties Glasgow, forming an oppressive backdrop to a true crime story that fascinates and appals from start to finish. Mina’s prose cuts to the bone, laying bare the prideful wickedness of men in a tale that is as often touching as it is frightening. A feast of a crime novel.

The Long Drop is a fascinating, quietly insidious work, unsettling but absorbing

It is a beautifully written book, a masterpiece by the woman who may be Britain’s finest living crime novelist

The Long Drop is not just a success and a thrilling read in its own right, but a game-changer for the genre.

A relentlessly tense and exciting read, every page oozes menace and its core of truth makes it all the more unsettling.

Dark, gritty and chilling, it is steeped in the atmosphere and mores of Glasgow in the 1950s

[An] extraordinary story of a 1950s Glasgow murder mystery.

The Long Drop is an extraordinarily unsettling, evocative and compelling novel

I’ve been a fan of Ms Mina for a while, but The Long Drop has to be my favourite. The writing is beautiful and more than once I found myself having to pause, just to take in the sheer elegance of the prose. It’s an absolute gem of a book.

[O]ne of crime fiction’s most acute observers of contemporary society.

A wonderfully punchy evocation of a legendary murder mystery, packed with the authentic sights, sounds and intrigues of Glasgow in the late Fifties.

[I] was gripped, impressed by her insight into the mind of a psychopath… A grim novel, but a very good one.

Mina's novels are engrossing, deeply rooted in reality and astutely perceptive about human nature

Powerful, passionate and compelling. Mina can chill your blood and break your heart in the same sentence

Why do Scottish writers dominate British crime fiction? With Denise Mina at least, the answer is pure class

Remarkable… It often seems as if Mina has freed herself from most of the strictures of the thriller format in order to explore altogether more literary territory. It is a pleasure to accompany her. The writing is frequently arresting

EVERYBODY LOVES A MURDER MYSTERY . . . UNTIL THEY HAVE A STARRING ROLE. 
 
 *A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
*A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK* 
 
 'Denise Mina is crime-writing royalty' Ian Rankin 
 'Such a delight: playful, fast-paced, and entirely compulsive' Ann Cleeves 
 
 It's just a normal morning when Anna's husband announces that he's leaving her for her best friend and taking their two daughters with him. 
 
 With her safe, comfortable world shattered, Anna distracts herself with someone else's story: a true-crime podcast. That is until she recognises the name of one of the victims and becomes convinced that only she knows what really happened. 
 
 With nothing left to lose, she throws herself into investigating the case. But little does she know, Anna's past and present lives are about to collide, sending everything she has worked so hard to achieve into freefall. 
 
*CONFIDENCE, THE FOLLOW UP TO CONVICTION, IS AVAILABLE NOW* 
 
 'If you loved Killing Eve, you'll devour Conviction' Erin Kelly 
 'A dark star of a novel, blazingly intense, up-to-the-minute fresh, and exciting as all hell' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

The Field of Blood

A child disappears and the police believe two boys are responsible, but rookie journalist Paddy Meehan isn’t so sure…

'The most exciting crime writer to have emerged in Britain for years' Ian Rankin 
'Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer' Sunday Express 
 
FROM THE COSTA-SHORTLISTED BESTSELLING AUTHOR 
 
In Glasgow, a child goes missing, taken from the front garden of his home. The investigation leads the police to the doors of two young boys. 
 
Paddy Meehan has just started work at a local newspaper where she dreams of becoming an investigative journalist. Although everyone around her believes the boys acted on their own, she is certain there is more to it and begins to ask awkward questions. 
 
But Paddy's investigation has repercussions she never anticipated. Shunned by those closest to her, she finds herself dangerously alone. 
 
And someone is trying to stop her discovering the truth. 
 
The first novel in the addictive Paddy Meehan series, from award-winning author Denise Mina.

Mina produces something special every time and this book – her finest yet – offers a memorable portrait of her touching heroine, along with the dynamics of the workplace and, especially, the family

Mina never fails to engage the reader, taking crime fiction into further territory to challenge and extend our perceptions... [This book] puts Mina into the class of the serious psychological novelist

The first novel in the addictive Paddy Meehan series, from award-winning author Denise Mina. 
 
'The most exciting crime writer to have emerged in Britain for years' Ian Rankin 
 
In Glasgow, a child goes missing, taken from the front garden of his home. The investigation leads the police to the doors of two young boys. 
 
Paddy Meehan has just started work at a local newspaper where she dreams of becoming an investigative journalist. Although everyone around her believes the boys acted on their own, she is certain there is more to it and begins to ask awkward questions. 
 
But Paddy's investigation has repercussions she never anticipated. Shunned by those closest to her, she finds herself dangerously alone.

The Dead Hour

When a woman is murdered, journalist Paddy Meehan must put her reputation – and her life – on the line to crack the case

Denise Mina is wonderful. It took only one book for me to become a true fan

Splendidly written... Magnificently readable

The Glasgow...in which The Dead Hour is set is uncompromisingly real and so are [the] characters. This is another very fine book from Mina

Discover the second novel in the pulse-racing Paddy Meehan series, from award-winning author Denise Mina. 
 
 ‘Mina can chill your blood and break your heart in the same sentence’ Mark Billingham 
 
 Journalist Paddy Meehan is called to a domestic dispute in a wealthy Glasgow suburb. The woman bleeding from a head injury doesn’t want any help and the well-dressed man beside her assures Paddy that everything is fine. But when she is given a £50 note to keep quiet, she becomes suspicious. 
 
 The next morning, the woman is dead. Paddy has found the story she has been waiting for, yet she will lose all credibility if word gets out about her bribe. To make matters worse, the police who attended the scene are twisting the evidence. Only Paddy cares enough to pursue a dark truth that could make her career – or get her killed. 
 
‘Splendidly written... Magnificently readable’ The Times

The Last Breath

Paddy Meehan’s former boyfriend was killed before he could expose a dark secret, and Paddy is determined to find the culprit

Mina infuses the city with human warmth and social realism; dialogue is convincingly street-witty and Paddy is an endearing heroine

Uncompromisingly real... Another fine book from Mina, and in Paddy Meehan, she has created a touching and loving heroine

Read the third novel in the Paddy Meehan series, from award-winning author Denise Mina. 
 
 ‘One of the most original voices in crime fiction’ Daily Mail 
 
 Paddy Meehan finally has it all: a flat of her own in Glasgow and a job as one of Scotland’s leading newspaper columnists. Then the police knock on her door. Her former lover Terry has been found in a ditch, shot through the head. 
 
 Even though they had split up months before, Terry has left her everything, including a house in Ayrshire and boxes of notebooks. As Paddy digs deeper into his murder, it soon becomes clear that the secret he was about to expose is worth killing for. And that she is next in line.

Denise Mina

Denise Mina is an even better writer than Raymond Chandler. She's also a one-of-a-kind storyteller. I'll leave it at that

Denise Mina is crime writing royalty

Mina successfully emulates the language and tone of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled novels featuring P.I. Marlowe in this terrific pastiche. Mina delivers a truly surprising plot. Noir fans will hope Mina returns to the mean streets of L.A. again soon

Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions

Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit

Mina's storytelling is always vivid and exciting

The Second Murderer, is a pitch perfect, cinematic homage to the master of noir crime fiction, Raymond Chandler, and his timeless hero, Philip Marlowe. Using whip-smart dialogue, and lush, sensual descriptions of the City of Angels, from Skid Row to the mansions of Beverly Hills, Mina's Marlowe faces danger at every turn, with wit, compassion, and bourbon-proof smarts. I loved this book!

What a pleasure to read my beloved Philip Marlowe as imagined by one of my favourite working crime writers. Denise Mina has the vision, wit, and soul to bring Marlowe and the Los Angeles of our noir dreams glimmering darkly to life

Gives us the LA gumshow at the height of his powers. There are sizzling one-liners, hard-boiled philosophy via the bottom of a bottle of rye and a seen-it-all humanity that expands on the original

Mina remains true to Chandler's tone and to Marlowe's character... highly recommended

The plot, tone and characterisation are pitch perfect

The one-liners zing, the plot is satisfyingly bamboozling

Journey through the shadowy underbelly of 1940s LA in this new murder mystery

&quot;This is Marlowe.&quot; 
&quot;Mr. Philip Marlowe?&quot; She asked. 
I glanced at the clock. It was exactly eleven am, as if she had been waiting by the 
phone for an appointed hour, following someone else's orders to the letter. 
&quot;What, d'you think we're a troupe of brothers? There is only me.&quot; 
 
It's mid-September, a heatwave has descended on the parched hills of LA and Private Detective Philip Marlowe is called to the Montgomery estate, an almost mythic place sitting high on top of Beverly Hills. Wealthy twenty-two-year-old Chrissie Montgomery, set to inherit an enormous fortune, is missing. 
 
She's a walking target, ripe for someone to get their claws into. Her dying father, along with his sultry bottle blonde girlfriend, wants her found before that happens. They've hired Anna Riorden, Marlowe's nemesis, too. The search takes them to the roughest neighbourhoods of LA through dive bars and Skid Row. And that's before he finds the body at The Brody Hotel. Who will get to her first, Marlowe, Anne, or the men chasing her fortune? And does she want to be found? 
 
Discover the rest of the inimitable Philip Marlowe series - nine classic Chandler adventures, from The Big Sleep to The Long Goodbye, available now in paperback and eBook from Penguin Books.

Denise Mina

Praise for The Second Murderer

Denise Mina is an even better writer than Raymond Chandler. She's also a one-of-a-kind storyteller. I'll leave it at that

Denise Mina is crime writing royalty

Mina successfully emulates the language and tone of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled novels featuring P.I. Marlowe in this terrific pastiche. Mina delivers a truly surprising plot. Noir fans will hope Mi ...

Denise Mina is an even better writer than Raymond Chandler. She's also a one-of-a-kind storyteller. I'll leave it at that

Denise Mina is crime writing royalty

Mina successfully emulates the language and tone of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled novels featuring P.I. Marlowe in this terrific pastiche. Mina delivers a truly surprising plot. Noir fans will hope Mi ...

Denise Mina is an even better writer than Raymond Chandler. She's also a one-of-a-kind storyteller. I'll leave it at that

Denise Mina is crime writing royalty

Mina successfully emulates the language and tone of Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled novels featuring P.I. Marlowe in this terrific pastiche. Mina delivers a truly surprising plot. Noir fans will hope Mi ...

Books by Denise Mina

Series by Denise Mina

Garnethill3 Books

Paddy Meehan3 Books

Articles featuring Denise Mina

So good it’s criminal: Penguin authors pick their favourite crime novels

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