Open and Shut

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, detailed mystery!
Review: I became a Val McDermid fan when I read "A Place of Execution", but it's taken me a while to read her earlier works, largely because they are difficult to find in the US. My perserverance was rewarded when I found "Open and Shut" in the library last week. McDermid's heroine, Lindsay Gordon, has returned to the UK after a self-imposed exile in Italy. A former journalist, she is asked to look into the conviction of a friend, Jackie Mitchell. Mitchell is accused of killing Alison Maxwell, a brilliant but amoral journalist who was once Linday's lover. Lindsay's investigations reveal that this case is far more complex than anyone could have imagined.

This novel is brilliantly detailed, with engrossing characters and gripping plot. The setting among professional lesbian women in Glasgow was at first daunting and a little bit foreign, but the story drew me in. These ladies are women like me and my friends, smart, funny and professionally dedicated. Read this book--if you can find it!