This is an early Denise Mina thriller, written in 2006, and continues the story of Paddy Meehan who works the graveyard shift for the Scottish Daily News in Glasgow. Paddy appears in a previous book, “Field of Blood,” which I haven’t read, but this novel stands on its own as an enjoyable read. Paddy is young, tough and feisty. She more than holds her own in the rough nightly news room and with the police at the local precinct. She comes from a large and poor Irish family, and she wrestles with her share of guilt about her weight, her snacking, and her relationship with a sleazy detective on a case she is following for a news story.
Paddy’s job entails chasing down police calls with her driver in case there is a lead she can make into a story. The usual night news room stories are fairly dull, and when she stumbles upon a call in an upscale neighborhood, Paddy is sure there is more to the case than a simple domestic dispute. She becomes part of the case when she glimpses a battered woman behind the well-dressed handsome man who answers the door. The woman quickly disappears from sight as the man smoothly puts off the police, slipping them and Paddy hush money. The exchange happens so quickly that it doesn’t register with her until she is warned to keep her mouth shut by the police.
Mina weaves dark nourish tales, and most of the action in this story takes place in the wet, gritty streets of nighttime Glasgow. It involves murder, police corruption, suicide and drugs. Mina’s characters are real and Paddy is unusual and likable. The reader feels her pain and her struggle to do the right thing while trying to help support her family and especially her mother.
Finding an older Denise Mina book at a library book sale is a treat indeed. If you haven’t read anything by her and you like mysteries, I recommend you give her work a try. She writes well and realistically and her characters are always psychologically interesting and deeper than the usual crime novel sleuth.
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