The Less Dead
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  • Published: 20 July 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529111804
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $22.99

The Less Dead

Formats & editions
Paperback
20 Jul 2021
EBook
20 Aug 2020
Audiobook
20 Aug 2020
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A brilliant, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching new thriller about identity and the value of a life, from the award-winning author of The Long Drop and Conviction.

'This is crime writing of the highest order' The Times
**THE TIMES CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2020**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 COSTA NOVEL AWARD**

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...

**A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020, SELECTED BY LEE CHILD**
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PRAISE FOR 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
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READERS LOVE THE LESS DEAD:
'One of the best books you'll read' *****
'Unputdownable' *****
'Gripping' *****
'An intelligent, gripping and compassionate crime novel' *****
  • Published: 20 July 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529111804
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Denise Mina

Denise Mina is the author of the Garnethill trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series. 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.

portrait photo of Denise Mina

Also by Denise Mina

The Second Murderer
Confidence
Garnethill
The Dead Hour
The Last Breath
The Field of Blood
Exile
See all

Praise for The Less Dead

Denise Mina is crime-writing royalty

Val McDermid

The Long Drop is not just a success and a thrilling read in its own right, but a game-changer for the genre

Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

A gripping plot and compelling characters

Sunday Times

The Long Drop is a beautifully written book, a masterpiece by the woman who may be Britain’s finest living crime novelist.

Daily Telegraph

Not a single word is wasted in this beautifully written novel. Unsettling, evocative and staggeringly good, it is possibly Mina’s finest achievement.

Daily Express on The Long Drop

Mina writes with wonderful wit and compassion

Jake Kerridge, Daily Mirror

This is crime writing of the highest order

Mark Sanderson, The Times

More proof that Denise Mina is Britain's best living crime writer

Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express

Mina is the most compassionate of crime novelists... a dark and heartfelt novel

John Williams, Mail on Sunday

Always compelling and frightening, Mina's latest novel is full of tough-minded compassion. She is probably the most interesting crime writer at work today

Literary Review

A brilliant thriller gripping with menace, but also a clear-eyed examination of female friendship and toxic masculinity. Denise Mina, a true original, can make you gasp in horror and laugh out loud on the same page

Mark Sanderson, The Times, *Books of the Year*

The Less Dead is one of the best crime novels I have read in ages... fast-paced, deftly-drawn... Denise Mina compellingly catches the tone of voice of angry, abandoned, drug-zonked Glaswegian women

A.N. Wilson, Tablet

A very urgent and affecting piece

Scotsman, *Books of the Year*

Mina has written the year's best crime novel

Daily Telegraph

A brilliant thriller dripping with menace... Denise Mina, a true original, can make you grasp in horror and laugh out loud on the same page

Joan Smith, The Times, *Crime Novel of the Year*

The always-wonderful Denise Mina with The Less Dead, notable as ever for its story, characters and setting

Lee Child, Daily Express, *Books of the Year*

A great writer and thinker

Richard Leonard, The Times

[A] terrifying and hilarious thriller

Daily Express, *Summer Reads of 2021*

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
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