Майна Дениз (11)

История одного из самых жутких – и самых странных – серийных убийц XX века. Еще до ареста пресса прозвала его «Зверем из Биркеншоу». Питер Мануэль был обвинен в убийстве по крайней мере семи человек (вероятно, их было гораздо больше). Он стал одним из трех последних преступников в Шотландии, казненных через повешение.

…Уильям Уотт, обвиняемый в убийстве всей своей семьи, стремится оправдаться – а заодно выяснить, кто же на самом деле сделал это. Только одному человеку известна правда. Его зовут Питер Мануэль, и он заявил, что знает, где находится пистолет, из которого расстреляли жену, дочь и свояченицу Уотта. Но Питер Мануэль – лжец. И его ложь может запутать кого угодно – даже его самого…

The second novel in the wonderful Paddy Meehan series by Scotland 's princess of crime.

Paddy Meehan, Glasgow's aspiring journalist is back on the beat, trawling the streets of Glasgow for a story – something to prove she can write; that she's better at her job than all her male colleagues; anything that will get her off the terrible night shift that is slowly turning her brains to mush. And then she meets the woman with the poodle perm at the door of a wealthy suburb in the north of the city. It's just a domestic dispute, Paddy's told, although her instincts are alerted when she's slipped a £50 note to keep the story out of the papers. By the next morning the woman is dead; she's been tortured, beaten, and left to die. Paddy has found her story, but she's still got the £50; and with her father and brothers unemployed, and her upright Roman Catholic family perilously short of money, this could solve a lot of problems.

A day later, Paddy sees a body being pulled from the river. Another death, she's told; it's nothing to do with you; go home. But when Paddy talks to the wife of the dead man, she finds that the relationship between him and the murdered woman was closer than the police had imagined. Why have these people died? What were they trying to hide? And could this be the break Paddy's been waiting for? What follows is a deeply personal journey into the dark heart of a brutal economic recession, and the brutal bud of the drugs trade in the 1980s.

Paddy Meehan, una joven de 18 años, trabaja como botones en un periódico de Glasgow y sueña con llegar a ser periodista. Un día, a la redacción llega la historia de la muerte de un niño a manos de dos chavales de diez y once años, pero Paddy ve pistas que indican que detrás de los dos chicos hay un adulto. Pronto se dará cuenta de que sus investigaciones pueden llevarla a un suicidio profesional, una crisis personal y, además, ponerla en grave peligro.

Laureen O'Donnell trabaja en la Casa de Acogida para Mujeres de Glasgow, donde conoce a Anne Harris, una chica que llega al centro con dos costillas rotas y en plena batalla contra el alcoholismo. Dos semanas después, el cuerpo de Anne aparece en el río, grotescamente mutilado y envuelto en una manta. Todo apunta a que el marido de Anne es el asesino, pero ¿no puede haber un culpable menos evidente?

Maureen y su amiga Leslie tratan de romper con la indiferencia que rodea el asesinato de Anne, aunque, misteriosamente, Leslie mantiene la boca bien cerrada y no cuenta todo lo que sabe. En un intento por aclarar la confusión en la que se ve sumida su vida, Maureen viaja a Londres. Sin embargo, en lugar de solucionar sus problemas, pronto se verá inmersa en un mundo de violencia y drogadicción.

Maureen O'Donnell no es una chica con suerte. Además de vivir en un barrio marginal de Glasgow y ser paciente de un centro psiquiátrico, se encuentra anclada a un trabajo sin futuro y a una relación hermética con Douglas, un psicoterapeuta poco transparente.

A punto de poner fin a su relación con Douglas. Maureen se despierta una buena mañana con una resaca insufrible y con su novio muerto en la cocina de su piso. La policía la considera una de las principales sospechosas, tanto por ser una joven que- se sale de los cánones de la normalidad como por su carácter inestable y su actitud poco cooperativa. Incluso su madre y su hermana sospechan de ella. Presa del pánico y con un sentimiento de abandono por parte de sus amigos y familiares. Maureen empieza a poner en duda todo lo que creía inamovible.

Maureen O'Donnell wasn't born lucky. A psychiatric patient and survivor of sexual abuse, she's stuck in a dead-end job and a secretive relationship with Douglas, a shady therapist. Her few comforts are making up stories to tell her psychiatrist, the company of friends, and the sweet balm of whisky. She is about to end her affair with Douglas when she wakes up one morning to find him in her living room with his throat slit.

Viewed in turn by the police as a suspect and as an uncooperative, unstable witness, Maureen is even suspected by her alcoholic mother and self-serving sisters of being involved. Worse than that, the police won't tell her anything about Douglas 's death.

Panic-stricken and feeling betrayed by friends and family, Maureen begins to doubt her own version of events. She retraces Douglas's desperate last days and picks up a horrifying trail of rape, deception… and suppressed scandal at a local psychiatric hospital where she had been an inmate. But the patients won't talk and the staff are afraid, and when a second brutalized corpse is discovered, Maureen realises that unless she gets to the killer first, her life is in danger.

This sixteen collection anthology revolves around a charm bracelet that brings misfortune to the holder. The tales are unique yet build off where the previous story left off. Beginning in the Georgia Mountains in 1803, continuing in 1839 and on into the twentieth century, the bracelet moves from one ill-fated soul whose story is unfolded until at the end of the tale, another person holds the bracelet and his or her story is told in the next chapter.

The fifteen contributors (Karin Slaughter opens and closes the anthology) seem to have enjoyed adding their spin to the book because all the inputs are well written and loaded with action and suspense. The “charmed characters” surprisingly for the most part come across as genuine regardless of their era and location (the bracelet gets around). LIKE A CHARM is gimmicky, but fans of interconnected short stories will appreciate this delightful thriller that lives up to its title as readers will enjoy this suspenseful interrelated compilation.

Alex Morrow is not new to the police force-or to crime-but there is nothing familiar about the call she has just received. On a still night in a quiet suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, three armed men have slipped from a van into a house, demanding a man who is not, and has never been, inside the front door. In the confusion that ensues, one family member is shot and another kidnapped, the assailants demanding an impossible ransom. Is this the amateur crime gone horribly wrong that it seems, or something much more unexpected?

As Alex falls further into the most challenging case of her career, Denise Mina proves why "if you don't read crime novels, Mina is your reason to change" (Rocky Mountain News).

'It's fascinating to see some of my favourite crime novelists coming together to create a taut, tense thriller; each chapter stands alone as a powerful story, yet they also combine seamlessly into a great read. Genuinely gripping.' – Harlan Coben

***

With each crime writer picking up the story in their usual locale, each of the authors tell a gripping story of murder, betrayal and intrigue. Running through each story is a charm bracelet which brings bad luck wherever it's found. Set in locations ranging from nineteenth-century Georgia to wartime Leeds, the book features stories from contributors such as Peter Robinson (writing about 1940s Leeds), Fidelis Morgan, Lynda La Plante (1970s Britain), Val McDermid (1980s Scotland) and Mark Billingham tackling contemporary London.

Paddy Meehan discovers that one of the boys charged with the murder of toddler Brian Wilcox is her fiance Sean's cousin, Callum. Soon Callum's name is all over the news, and her family believe she is to blame. Shunned by Sean and by those closest to her, Paddy finds herself dangerously alone.

Maureen O'Donnell is facing the darkest episode in her life. She owes more than she makes in a year in back taxes; Angus Farrell, the psychologist who murdered her boyfriend, is up for trial, with Maureen as the reluctant star witness; and her abuser has arrived back in Glasgow in time for the birth of her sister's baby. On top of it all, Maureen – who identifies all too readily with the underdogs of this world – has become embroiled in someone else's family feud.

When an elderly stallholder at the flea market where Maureen and Leslie are selling illegally imported cigarettes dies in hospital after a brutal beating, Maureen questions why anyone might want to kill the woman popularly known as 'Home Gran'. She suspects Ella's son, but Si McGee is an upstanding member of the Scottish business community, runs a chain of estate agents and has a health club in Glasgow 's West End. But she soon discovers that the 'health club' fronts a much less respectable establishment. As Angus's trial approaches, once again Maureen is under threat, and this time she has very few protectors.