The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Less Dead

The Less Dead

Summary

THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR


SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 COSTA NOVEL AWARD



'This is crime writing of the highest order' The Times

When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found.

Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer, for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone...

*NOMINATED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD*
*A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020, SELECTED BY LEE CHILD*

CONFIDENCE, THE NEW NOVEL BY DENISE MINA, IS AVAILABLE NOW


_____

PRAISE FOR NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR DENISE MINA:
'More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer' Sunday Express on The Less Dead
'Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel' Mail on Sunday on The Less Dead
'Denise Mina is the cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions and never fails to deliver' Ian Rankin
'You won't be able to put Conviction down' Reese Witherspoon
'Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good' Daily Express on The Long Drop
'An atmospheric recreation of a vanished Glasgow...and a compelling exploration of the warped criminal mind' The Times on The Long Drop: Top Ten Crime Novels of the Decade
'Denise Mina gets to the heart of what crime really is. You feel like you are right there, in all the dark nooks and crannies that her characters inhabit' Sunday Times and International Bestselling Author, Karin Slaughter
_____

READERS LOVE THE LESS DEAD:
'One of the best books you'll read' *****
'Unputdownable' *****
'Gripping' *****
'An intelligent, gripping and compassionate crime novel' *****

Reviews

  • This is crime writing of the highest order
    Mark Sanderson, The Times

About the author

Denise Mina

Denise Mina is the author of the Garnethill trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series, as well as historical novels Rizzio and Three Fires. She has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice and was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2014. The Long Drop won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2017 as well as the Gordon Burn Prize and was named by The Times as one of the top ten crime novels of the decade. Conviction was the co-winner of the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2019 and was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Book Club. Denise has also written plays and graphic novels, and presented television and radio programmes. She lives and works in Glasgow.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more