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by Denise Mina Patricia "Paddy" Meehan is a 21 year old spunky female reporter at the Scottish Daily News in Glasgow in 1984. She has been promoted to "night calls". On one of these calls, she follows the police on a domestic dispute in a wealthy suburb. She glimpses a blood covered woman through a doorway, but a man gives her a 50 pound note to go away. The police on the scene do nothing and leave. The next day the woman, Vhari Burnell, a political activist lawyer, is found murdered. Paddy is guilt ridden, feeling she may have prevented the death if she had stayed to help the woman instead of accepting what she feels was a bribe. Paddy is the sole supporter of her family and is hesitant to reveal the bribe, feeling it will jeopardize her job where she, a Catholic, is competing with middle aged men, mostly Protestant and drinkers. Then a suicide, a friend of Vhari, is fished out of the river. Paddy connects the two deaths and is determined to find the killer even though she is being stalked and is perhaps in danger herself. This is an excellent investigative journalist whodunit, told from the point of view of Paddy who is sensitive, tough and vulnerable, always dieting and determined to do the right thing even with her problems at home and at the workplace. There is a brooding atmosphere with a sense of place for the landscape of Glasgow in the 1980's. The author presents an excellent commentary on the political and social scene of that time, focusing on the Catholic underclass and comparisons of the gritty city with the posh suburbs. We are given an authentic look at daily journalism. A highly recommended, riveting novel.... |
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The Dead Hour