Denise Mina

(born 1966 -) East Kilbride

Denise Mina was born in the new town of East Kilbride, just outside Glasgow. Her father was an engineer who rode the boom time in North Sea Oil exploration. The family moved twenty-one times in eighteen years to areas all round Europe, including London, Paris and The Hague.

Mina left school at sixteen and worked in a variety of low-paid jobs that included: meat factory worker, barmaid, kitchen porter and cook. She eventually settled in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.

At twenty-one she passed exams and entered Glasgow University, where she studied Law. Following this she took on research for a PhD thesis in 'The Ascription of Mental Illness to Female Offenders', at Strathclyde University. She then taught Criminology and Criminal Law part-time.

Instead of studying, she wrote what would be her first novel, Garnethill - obviously not time wasted. Garnethill, which was published in 1998, won the Crime Writer's Association John Creasy Dagger for the Best First Crime Novel in that year.

Mina writes in what is popularly known as the Tartan Noir style and her writing includes work on the comic, Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy, which is to be published as a graphic novel by Vertigo. She has also written her own graphic novel, A Sickness in the Family, about spree killing and property prices, to be published by DC Comics.

She also writes short stories for collections and stories for BBC Radio 4. She wrote her first play, 'Ida Tamson', which was performed at Oran Mor as part of the 'A Play, a Pie and a Pint' series, starring Elaine C. Smith.

To Mina's great surprise, enquiries were made by none other than Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's production company, who were interested in optioning the film rights to her fourth novel, Sanctum. At the time, however, the rights were held by the BBC.

Her novels have been translated into over thirty languages. Denise Mina's most recent book, The End of the Wasp Season, was published in 2011.

£7.64
Empathy Is The Enemy
Denise Mina; Leonardo Manco - Paperback - Titan
When John Constantine tries to help out a man cursed with the ability to feel the same things as everyone around him, no matter how awful, he is led on a journey to a remote Scottish island, where an ancient power waits for him - as does a vengeful fellow magician.
£12.99
The End Of The Wasp Season
Denise Mina - Hardback - Orion
When millionaire banker Lars Anderson hangs himself from the oak tree in front of his Kent mansion his death attracts no sympathy. One less shark is little loss to a world nursing a financial hangover. But the legacy of a lifetime of self-serving is widespread, the carnage most acute among his family.
Add to Basket
£6.79
Exile
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
Travelling down from Glasgow to London to investigate the murder of one of the former clients at the Glasgow Women's Shelter, Maureen O'Donnell quickly finds herself out of her depth and in danger of suffering a similar fate.
Add to Basket
£6.79
The Field Of Blood
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
In Glasgow, a toddler goes missing, snatched from the front garden of his home. But while the city braces itself for the discovery of a lone sexual predator, the police are led to the doors of two 11-year-old boys.
Add to Basket
£6.79
Garnethill
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
Mental breakdown survivor Maureen is about to end her affair with a married man when she discovers his body in her living room, his throat slit. Suspected of murder, Maureen must act fast - before the real killer comes after her.
Add to Basket
£11.04
Gods And Beasts
Denise Mina - Hardback - Orion
The complicity of an old man in his own death, a promiscuous politician and a bag of untraceable money - one city, three crimes and a powerful connection that runs from Glasgow's dark criminal underworld to the international spheres of the super rich.
£6.99
The Last Breath
Denise Mina - Paperback - Bantam
Paddy Meehan is devastated when former boyfriend Terry Patterson is found murdered. As she begins her investigation into his death, she realises that if the secret he was about to expose was worth killing for, she is next in line.
Add to Basket
£8.99
The Red Right Hand
Denise Mina; Leonardo Manco - Paperback - Titan
John Constantine's trip to Scotland has ended in disaster, as Steve Evans' well-intentioned Empathy Engine has caused mass suicides and the quarantine of Glasgow. Now John, Evans, Angie, Chas and a motley crew of survivors must seek the cause of the horror, while desperately trying to stave off its terrible effects.
Add to Basket
£6.79
Resolution
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
Mental breakdown survivor Maureen is facing the darkest episode of her life. Her abusive father has returned to Glasgow, her friend Ella has died in hospital after a brutal beating and Maureen's life is under threat at a time when she has very few protectors.
Add to Basket
£6.79
Sanctum
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
Lachlan Harriot is in a state of shock. His wife Susie has been convicted of the murder of serial killer Andrew Gow, a prisoner in her care. But as he goes through the documents in her study to clear her name, his search for the truth soon raises more questions than answers.
Add to Basket
£14.99
A Sickness In The Family
Denise Mina - Hardback - Titan
Meet the Ushers. Just a normal middle-class family. Until they start dying. Violent deaths. One by one. Is there a curse on their house, as recently unearthed history of witchcraft in the area would suggest? Or has one member of the Usher clan declared open season on the rest?
Add to Basket
£6.79
Still Midnight
Denise Mina - Paperback - Orion
The quiet of a Glaswegian suburb is shattered with a brutal and baffling attack. Armed men invade a family home, shouting for a man nobody's heard of. A shot is fired, and they escape with a hostage and a demand for two million pounds. It's a high-profile case that could make DS Alex Morrow's career.