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= Book Group Selection

Val McDermid was born in Scotland, attended Oxford, then spent 14 years as a journalist while nurturing her desire to become a real writer. Her first attempt at creative writing failed as a novel but succeeded as a play. Then, “excited by the New Wave of American women crime writers,” she decided to try a crime novel set in the U.K. Report for Murder, her first novel, was published in 1987. She quit her journalist job and became a full-time creative writer in 1991.

And here, from Val’s Web site, is some good news for her American readers:

This is the summer of murder for me in the US. My American publishers, Minotaur, are determined to make it impossible to avoid my books over there. The Mermaids Singing comes out in paperback this month (June 2002), followed by the paperback of The Wire in the Blood in July, Killing The Shadows in paperback in August and then The Last Temptation in September. I'll be visiting the US in late September/early October. Stay tuned for more details of tour dates nearer the time.

Crack Down (1994)
Harper, 246 pages, $4.99 paperback, ISBN 0-06-104394-X

British private investigator Kate Brannigan is one-half of the firm Mortensen and Brannigan, which specializes in white-collar crime, particularly financial and computer fraud. The book opens with Kate and her boyfriend, freelance rock journalist Richard Barclay, posing as a newly married couple. They purchase a new sportscar as part of Kate's investigation into financing fraud. Of course they're supposed to turn the car back over to one of the company's executives, but Richard just can't resist driving it first. And, of course, the car is stolen.

A few days later Richard sees the stolen car on the street and "repossesses" it. When the police stop Richard, they discover two kilos of crack cocaine in the car's trunk. Convinced that they've cracked the area's drug ring, they throw Richard into jail and have no interest in investigating further. It's up to Kate to find out what's going on before Richard is put away for a very, very long time. And she only has three days.

I usually don't like British mysteries, probably because I'm afraid I'm missing something truly important whenever the author uses a British idiom or piece of Brit slang that I don't understand--something like "…all Broderick had to do was sit back and wait till the dealers finally got round to admitting they'd flogged some metal. Then it would be gumshields time in the car showrooms" (p. 13). However, it's impossible not to take to Kate Brannigan right away. How can you not like somebody who says, "He's got flaming red curls as tight as a pensioner's perm and a face like a sad clown. He'd have no chance in an identity parade unless the cops brought in a busload of Ronald McDonalds" (p. 68).

McDermid's (and Brannigan's) sense of humor, several well-developed minor characters, and a plot that's complex without being convoluted make this novel a delightful read.

A Place of Execution (1999) Recommended
St. Martin's, 465 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback, ISBN 0-312-97953-3

British writer Catherine Heathcote has nearly finished her book about a famous case, the disasppearance of 13-year-old Alison Carter 25 years earlier. Although Heathcote has interviewed all the people still living who were involved in the case, the bulk of her book has come from the account of George Bennett, the young detective for whom Alison’s disappearance was his first big case.

Alison Carter was never seen again after she disappeared. The case shocked the inhabitants of her tiny village, which is so small and close-knit that all the residents share three surnames and are complexly inter-related. Alison’s stepfather was Philip Hawkin, an outsider who had inherited the manor house a few years earlier upon his uncle’s death. Although Alison’s body was never found, Bennett was able to build a convincing circumstantial case against Hawkin, who was convicted and hanged for Alison’s death.

Heathcote and Bennett have worked closely together preparing her book. The manuscript is in final preparation for publication when an agitated Bennett calls the writer and tells her the book cannot be published. Why has Bennett so suddenly changed his mind? And why should Heathcote go along with his entreaty that publication be stopped?

In this novel McDermid employs a type of narrative structure sometimes referred to as “bookends”: a large central portion of a book bracketed at the beginning and end by shorter narrative pieces, usually told by a different narrator than that of the central portion. In A Place of Execution the large central portion is the book that Heathcote has written on the basis of her research and centering on Bennett’s investigation; this part is set in 1963, at the time of Alison’s disappearance. But McDermid’s novel begins and ends with sections about Heathcote that occur in the present, 25 years after the case. The purpose of the bookend structure in this case is to allow for the passage of time – time that will finally raise the central issues that the novel explores.

A Place of Execution won the following awards:

• Anthony Award for best novel
• Macavity Award for best crime novel of 2000
• Los Angeles Times Books of the Year Award
• Dilys Award
• Barry Award for best British mystery
• New York Times Notable Book of the Year

This mystery novel transcends genre fiction by raising issues such as guilt and innocence, the meaning of justice, human resilience, and the importance of community.

 

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