Denise Mina, Resolution (2001)

This Scottish novel is the third part of the Garnethill trilogy. Reviews of Garnethill and Exile.

After the first two, I had great expectations to the grand finale, and the first page sounds promising, don´t you think?

“The police were out there. Angus didn´t know what they were going to charge him with yet. He guessed the murders and not the rapes. They didn´t have any good witnesses for the rapes.”

When this volume begins, Maureen is waiting for the trial of Angus Farrell who killed her lover, Douglas. Maureen has spent the money Douglas left her without knowing she would be taxed so she has begun selling cigarettes from a stall together with her loyal friend, Leslie, to pay her debt. Soon an old stallholder, Ella McGee, disappears from the market, and Maureen discovers that she has been assaulted. Even though Ella seems to be on the mend, Maureen takes a keen interest in her son, Simon McGee´s affairs. And last, but not least, she is waiting for the birth of her sister´s baby, dreading the thought of a new baby in the family with her father on the lose.

The Garnethill trilogy is a brilliant crime series, but it is also a wonderful and realistic portrayal of life down among the women. Maureen and her friends know that the police will swoop down on the perpetrator as soon as someone has committed a crime, but who is there to save them from violence, abuse, poverty and alcoholism? No one but themselves.

In short, this is Scottish crime when it is best!

Denise Mina, Exile (2000)

[Dansk udgave: Eksil, 2003]

Mini review.

This crime story is the second part of the Scottish writer´s Garnethill trilogy.

When we meet Maureen O´Donnell again, she is equipped with a gorgeous, young lover, Vikram, but also with a dreaded father who has moved into a flat nearby. Her family do not believe she was abused by him so she feels ostracized by them as if she were the culprit.

The new plot begins when a cyclist nearly is hit by a car in London. During his effort to escape the accident he turns a somersault and lands on the riverbank. He receives his next shock when he realizes that he is sitting on the body of a long-dead woman, Ann Harris from the Glasgow Place of Safety Shelter where Maureen and Leslie work.

The sequel is captivating, but the tone is sadder and more serious than volume one. The violence and troubles in Maureen´s family take up so much space in her life that she cannot accommodate young Vikram or anything else.

I bought the book myself, and I know that if you enjoyed the first volume as much as I did, you will read the second no matter how much or little I write about it. And if you have not read the first, what are you waiting for?

Denise Mina, Garnethill (1998)

[Oversat til dansk i 2002 også under titlen Garnethill]

This Scottish debut is the first part of a trilogy about Maureen O´Donnell from Glasgow.

“When she first met Douglas she knew that this would be a big one. His voice was soft and when he spoke her name she felt that God was calling or something. She fell in love despite Elsbeth, despite his lies, despite her friends´ disapproval. She remembered a time when she would watch him sleep, his eyes fluttering behind the lids, and she found the sight so beautiful that it winded her. But on Monday night she woke up and looked at him and knew it was over. Eight long months of emotional turmoil had passed as suddenly as a fart.”

Even though Maureen has come to her senses after a hectic affair with married Douglas, she receives a nasty shock when she finds him tied to a chair, brutally murdered, in her own living room. Maureen came home very late and very drunk the night before so she did not even notice the body until the following day.

Of course the police suspect that Maureen or her drug-selling brother Liam may be behind the murder. Maureen who has a past including abuse and a mental breakdown seems shattered, but it soon becomes evident that the young working-class woman has hidden resources, especially when she conspires with her energetic friend Leslie.

This novel was another first-class March discovery. I enjoyed the wonderfully crafted characters (especially Maureen and Leslie), the credible working-class setting, and the fine plot. Furthermore, Mina writes well and adds a nice streak of humour even in the darkest scenes.

I bought the trilogy myself, and I am looking forward to volume two and three which are waiting for me on the shelf!