A Bad, Bad Place

'Clever, authentic, and humane with unforgettable protagonists and pitch-black humour'

Ian Rankin

Superb debut…a well-observed, well-told account of trauma, grief and concomitant magical thinking, this coming-of-age mystery has flashes of humour and pathos that provide fuel for real suspense.

Guardian

Crawford has delivered a slow-burn mystery that doubles as a moving coming-of-age tale, investing readers in Janey’s fate but also showing how a community can protect the wrong people for too long — and at too great a cost.

New York Times

The very best writing can transport you through time and place - well A Bad Bad Place took me to Glasgow, to 1979 and to a young girl who discovers a brutal murder, the repercussions of which resound across a troubled community. It’s hard to believe this richly authentic, funny, moving and insightful story, beautifully written in local dialect, is actually a debut. Bravo Frances Crawford!

Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

Frightening, funny and full of heart.

Paula Hawkins, No.1 bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

‘Gripping, gruesome, and so gritty you can smell it. A visceral and exciting debut.’

Belinda Bauer, bestselling author of Snap

A Bad, Bad Place will stay with me for a long, long time. The writing is raw and visceral, and the story richly layered. One to watch.

Jennie Godfrey, No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

Impressive first novel...the story of [the characters'] relationship and of Janey’s investigation is outstanding, but the novel also offers a powerful picture of the poverty in which they live.

Literary Review

'A Bad, Bad Place is a great, great book -- my favorite kind, in fact: the kind that illuminates the dark of the past by laying a bonfire of a story at its heart. Frances Crawford, the preternaturally gifted author of this magical new novel, works bright magic here; very rarely have I felt so transported by a story, or so enmeshed in a community of characters, bound by love and fear and language. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part Louise Welsh, yet altogether incomparable.'

A. J. Finn, No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window