Denise Mina (born 21 August 1966) is a Scottish crime writer and playwright. She has written the ''Garnethill'' trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia "Paddy" Meehan, a

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. Described as an author of Tartan Noir, she has also dabbled in

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

writing, having written 13 issues of ''

Hellblazer ''John Constantine, Hellblazer'' is an American contemporary horror comic-book series published by DC Comics since January 1988, and subsequently by its Vertigo imprint since March 1993, when the imprint was introduced. Its central character is ...

''. Mina's first Paddy Meehan novel, ''The Field of Blood'' (2005), was filmed for broadcast in 2011 by the BBC, starring

Jayd Johnson Jayd Johnson (born 18 December 1990) is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayal of Nicki Cullen in ''River City'' and her BAFTA-winning role as Paddy Meehan in '' The Field of Blood''. Career Johnson began attending drama classes aged ...

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in '' The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), for ...

and

David Morrissey David Mark Joseph Morrissey (born 21 June 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. Described by the British Film Institute as "one of the most versatile English actors of his generation", he is noted for the meticulous preparation and research h ...

. The second, ''The Dead Hour,'' was filmed and broadcast in 2013.

Biography

Denise Mina was born in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

in 1966. Her father worked as an engineer. Because of his work, the family moved 21 times in 18 years: from Paris to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, London, Scotland and

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

; she has also professed an affection for

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, her mother's home town. Mina left school at 16 and worked in a variety of low-skilled jobs, including as a barmaid, kitchen porter and cook. She also worked for a time in a meat-processing factory. In her twenties she worked in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients, before returning to education and earning a law degree from

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. It was while researching a PhD thesis on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, and teaching criminology and criminal law at

Strathclyde University The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal c ...

in the 1990s, that she decided to write her first novel ''Garnethill'', published in 1998 by Transworld. Mina lives in Glasgow.

Awards and honours

*1998 John Creasey Dagger for Best First Crime Novel, ''Garnethill'' *2011 The Martin Beck Award (Bästa till svenska översatta kriminalroman), ''The End of the Wasp Season'' *2012 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, '' The End of the Wasp Season'' *2013 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, ''Gods and Beasts'' *2017

Gordon Burn Prize Gordon Burn (16 January 1948 – 17 July 2009) was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction. Background Burn's novels deal with issues of modern fame and faded celebrity as l ...

, ''The Long Drop'' *2017

McIlvanney Prize Bloody Scotland is a Scottish international crime writing festival, held annually in Stirling, Scotland. It was founded in 2012 by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray and describes itself as "the literary festival where you can let do ...

for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year, ''The Long Drop'' *2020 Deutscher Krimi Preis ( International crime writers) for ''Gods and Beasts''

Bibliography

Novels

;Garnethill trilogy *''Garnethill'' (1998) *''Exile'' (2000) *''Resolution'' (2001) ;Patricia "Paddy" Meehan novels *''The Field of Blood'' (2005) *''The Dead Hour'' (2006) *''The Last Breath'' (2007) – published as ''Slip of the Knife'' in America ;Alex Morrow novels *''Still Midnight'' (2009) *''The End of the Wasp Season'' (2010) *''Gods and Beasts'' (2012) *''The Red Road'' (2013) * ''Blood, Salt, Water'' (2014) ;Anna & Fin novels *''Conviction'' (2019) *''Confidence'' (2022) ;Other novels *''Sanctum'' (2003) (published as ''Deception'' in the US in 2004) *''The Long Drop'' (2017) based on the 1958 trial and execution of the serial killer Peter Manuel. *''The Less Dead'' (2020) *''Rizzio'' (2021)

Comics

To date, the entirety of Mina's work in comics has been published under

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

imprint: *''

'' #216–228 (with Leonardo Manco and Cristiano Cucina (#223), 2006–2007) collected as ''John Constantine, Hellblazer Volume 19'' (tpb, 328 pages, 2018, ) *'' Vertigo Crime: A Sickness in the Family'' (with

Antonio Fuso Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

, 192 pages, 2010, ) *The

Millennium Trilogy ''Millennium'' is a series of best-selling and award-winning Swedish crime novels, created by journalist Stieg Larsson. The two primary characters in the saga are Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mika ...

graphic novel adaptations: **'' The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (tpb, 312 pages, 2014, ) collects: *** ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Book One'' (with Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti, hc, 152 pages, 2012, ) *** ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Book Two'' (with Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti, hc, 160 pages, 2013, ) **''

The Girl Who Played with Fire ''The Girl Who Played with Fire'' ( sv, Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling ''Millennium'' series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009. ...

'' (with Andrea Mutti, Leonardo Manco and Antonio Fuso, hc, 288 pages, 2014, ; sc, 2015, ) **''

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'' (original title in sv, Luftslottet som sprängdes, lit=The castle in the air that blew up) is the third novel in the best-selling ''Millennium'' series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.; It was pub ...

'' (with Andrea Mutti and Antonio Fuso, hc, 272 pages, 2015, ; sc, 2016, )

Plays

*''Ida Tamson'' (2006) *''A Drunk Woman Looks at the Thistle'' (2007), inspired by Hugh MacDiarmid's

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

poem, ''

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle ''A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle'' is a long poem by Hugh MacDiarmid written in Scots and published in 1926. It is composed as a form of monologue with influences from stream of consciousness genres of writing. A poem of extremes, it ranges bet ...

'', and first performed by

Karen Dunbar Karen Dunbar (born 1 April 1971) is a Scottish comedian, actress and writer. She first appeared on television on the BBC Scotland sketch comedy series ''Chewin' the Fat'' (1999–2002), and was subsequently given her own show by the channel titl ...

. *'' The Meek'', radio play for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The sta ...

, broadcast on 7 March 2009

Notes

External links

* *
''Still Midnight''
review and interview in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

''
Denise Mina
talking with

Ian Rankin Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a sch ...

at the

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square in the centre of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Billed as ''The largest festival of its k ...

(transcript and audio), 17 August 2006 *Amy Myers
''End of the Wasp Season''
review in ShotsMag Ezine {{DEFAULTSORT:Mina, Denise 1966 births Living people Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish crime fiction writers Scottish mystery writers People from East Kilbride Scottish women novelists Scottish comics writers Female comics writers Barry Award winners Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of the University of Glasgow 20th-century Scottish novelists 21st-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Scottish dramatists and playwrights Women mystery writers British women dramatists and playwrights Members of the Detection Club Tartan Noir writers