I really enjoyed Garnethill by Denise Mina. The thing I enjoyed most about it was the local color, the descriptions of streets and neighborhoods in Glasgow. The other thing that really impressed me was the sheer originality of the plot. And the sense I had that Mina had used the format of the mystery novel to convey something she felt she'd learned about mental illness, sexual assualt, and both the mental health care system and society's attitudes toward mental health.
Maureen O'Donnell has only been out of an asylum, where she was treated for severe depression, for four months. She's dating a counselor from the outpatient clinic where she's having therapy - although he's not her therapist. She's just reached the point where she feels this relationship has run its course. The next night, she goes out for drinks with an old friend, and, having had too much to drink, comes home and goes straight to bed. In the morning, she is deeply shocked to discover that her lover has been murdered in the living room of her apartment. She didn't notice when she came in the night before because she went straight to bed and didn't enter that room.
Everything about this is terrible. The sensational nature of the crime has attracted the interest of the newspapers and reporters besiege her at work. She found the body and she's being treated for mental illness, so she's the police's first idea about a suspect for the murders. Her own mother and her lover's mother, a politician, also think she's the culprit. She sets out to do what seems impossible: conduct her own investigation and find the real culprit.
It starts with a rumor but she begins to gather evidence that there are a number of vulnerable mental health patients that may have sexually assaulted by a staff member. She speculates that this situation may be the cause of her lover's murder; perhaps he was killed to prevent him from revealing the identity of the attacker.
A scene I really enjoyed was a meeting Maureen has with her brother in a chipper. The chipper is so perfectly described that you can not only picture it but feel the whole atmosphere of discussing a difficult topic in the least conducive environment.
Garnethill is the first novel in a trilogy. Garnethill earned the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger Award for best first crime novel. I think it was deserved.
Maureen O'Donnell has only been out of an asylum, where she was treated for severe depression, for four months. She's dating a counselor from the outpatient clinic where she's having therapy - although he's not her therapist. She's just reached the point where she feels this relationship has run its course. The next night, she goes out for drinks with an old friend, and, having had too much to drink, comes home and goes straight to bed. In the morning, she is deeply shocked to discover that her lover has been murdered in the living room of her apartment. She didn't notice when she came in the night before because she went straight to bed and didn't enter that room.
Everything about this is terrible. The sensational nature of the crime has attracted the interest of the newspapers and reporters besiege her at work. She found the body and she's being treated for mental illness, so she's the police's first idea about a suspect for the murders. Her own mother and her lover's mother, a politician, also think she's the culprit. She sets out to do what seems impossible: conduct her own investigation and find the real culprit.
It starts with a rumor but she begins to gather evidence that there are a number of vulnerable mental health patients that may have sexually assaulted by a staff member. She speculates that this situation may be the cause of her lover's murder; perhaps he was killed to prevent him from revealing the identity of the attacker.
A scene I really enjoyed was a meeting Maureen has with her brother in a chipper. The chipper is so perfectly described that you can not only picture it but feel the whole atmosphere of discussing a difficult topic in the least conducive environment.
Garnethill is the first novel in a trilogy. Garnethill earned the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger Award for best first crime novel. I think it was deserved.
11/19/2020: If you're interested in Denise Mina, or think you might be, I recommend this clip of Mina in conversation with Jane Casey at this year's Dublin Book Festival, talking about Tartan Noir, describing Glasgow, writing crime fiction vs. writing true crime, society's construct of women's mental illness, the value of awards, writing crime fiction as a feminist act, and Mina's latest novel, The Less Dead.
The MurderOne Festival @ DBF Denise Mina in conversation with Jane Casey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqQEeF--vMA
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