The Dead Hour

Read "The Field of Blood" first. "The Dead Hour" is a continuation of a great character. Denise Mina is a first rate writer. I love this series and can't wait for her to write the next Paddy Meehan story. Denise Mina is as good as it gets.

"She looked up from her desk. Three copyboys were perched on their desks, scanning the room for the faintest signal. The newsroom was packed with men going about their business, but everyone seemed altered. The energy of the room seemed to move around her and the scoop she was writing up. No one came near her desk. This was t he respect of her peers." Paddy Meehan thought she would be an investigative journalist, but here she was still on the night shift, chasing stories. And, by golly, one came her way. She followed the police to a home where a domestic dispute had unfolded. The woman, a young blonde lawyer refused to file charges, and the good looking young man who appeared to have caused her injury was walking free. Plus he gave Paddy a 50 pound note to keep this quiet. A bribe, well, sort of. Paddy needed the money, she was the sole support for her family and they needed the money. She took it. The next morning she discovered this woman was dead, was she partly responsible for not writing about this incident? Maybe, but who would know? Paddy would, and she could not live with it. She begins an investigation into what really happened. All this while she is a decent young woman trying to make her way in a lfie full of bitter, nasty men, and her wish to get out of the dead-end world she grew up in without cutting herself off from her roots. The graveyard shift, hence the name "The Dead Hour' where things can get loose in the wee small hours. Even though Paddy has the ability for detection, she does not exhibit an aptitude as a journalist. She is self conscious particularly about her weight and is not as curious as one might expect. But she grows on you. She is likable. As Paddy delves into the mystery of this murder, she becomes a little more sure of herself. She and one policeman believe that they are onto a murder and though they may be the only ones, they persue the clues and find surprising links. As Paddy pursues the clues her life may be in jeopardy. Paddy Meehan, the Scottish lass, the unlikeliest of heroes meets her match, and it is hoped she will thrive. This is the second of a series, and it is well enough liked that Paddy Meehan will be seen again. Denise Mina, the author, has developed a real character, a woman that grows on ya. Highly Recommended. prisrob 7-31-06

From time to time a story and narrator seem perfectly matched - such is the case with Heather O'Neill and her narration of The Dead Hour. O'Neill's Scottish burr precisely suits; it's both distinctive and distinct. Her reading is firm, thoughtful, apt voice for this story of a bold young reporter, Paddy Meehan. Paddy works for the Scottish Daily News where she's subject to verba; jabs from males on the staff. Granted, Paddy is a bit over weight, still there's no need to call her "wee hen" or "fat cow," is there? However, Paddy has much more on her mind than eternal dieting and the insultings comments levied at her - she's working the night shift when she goes to what has been called a domestic dispute in a well-to-do suburb. Once there she sees what appears to be a beautiful blonde woman - it's somewhat difficult to tell as the woman is bleeding from a head wound and rejecting offers of help, first from the police and now from Paddy. The next morning Paddy is shocked to seee on the TV news that the woman she saw last evening has been found murdered. Remembering that she accepted a 50 pound note to go away, Paddy determines to find the woman's killer although that will, as she soon discovers, put her own life in jeopardy. With this, the second in a five book Paddy Meehan series, Denise Mina establishes herself as a writer of note, sketching the city of Glasgow with authenticity and its people with color while spinning a first-rate crime novel. - Gail Cooke

Fans of Ian Rankin's marvelous Inspector Rebus series are quite depressed at the prospect of the mandatory retirement of John Rebus after 20 books (we have only 2 to go). Fortunately, Edinburgh has produced another incredible crime fiction talent: Denise Mina. Mina, a former attorney, has just penned the second book in a series that features Paddy Meehan, now crime reporter. In the first book Paddy was a lowly copy boy. Now she has worked her way up to late night crime beat coverage. She follows the police on calls. Her driver waits in the car while Paddy looks for the scoop. The Dead Hour opens with a late night call to a mansion. A man has bloodied a woman but he bribes the police (and Paddy) to go away. Later, that same woman is found dead. Next stop, a suicide, a man has thrown himself in the river. Paddy is there and she wonders; what's the connection here? A beautiful woman, her looks ravaged by drugs, drives a car with a trunkfull of cocaine, the baddies are on her tail. Where does she fit in? Paddy wants to know. While she is sleuthing she finds time for a tryst with a married police officer (in his car). She becomes the laughingstock of the newsroom. Reporter does cop. Mina does a lovely job of creating her tough but vulnerable cub reporter. The solving of crimes is less interesting that the development of the lovely Paddy. She is overweight, the sole support for her family, young and frivolous, part of a Catholic minority and she has desires for justice, sex and sweets. So human. So lovely. So fragile. So tough. A marvelous read!

My wish came true! As I turned the last page of Denise Mina's, "Field of Blood", I sat hoping that I'd meet Paddy Meehan in another Mina novel very soon. Her character, flawed as she is, was just too compelling to stop there. So I was eager to continue her saga in Mina's latest work, "The Dead Hour", and I was not disappointed. Again we walk along side Paddy; smart, cynical, self-loathing, responsible, frustrating and courageous. The story is again set in the mid 1980s in Scotland, which is a perfect time to depict the feeble beginnings of consciousness raising for both Paddy and society in general. Many things that happen to Paddy just wouldn't happen now (thankfully). The plot is interesting and well constructed, though it is for Paddy and the wonderful and quirky cast of secondary characters that I loved this book. That has been true in all of Mina's work, and as great as the "Garnethill" trilogy was, this Meehan series is even better. I don't have to wish and hope for more; the novel ends on a particularly provocative cliffhanger promising more Paddy Meehan to come. I'll be in line!