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sparkatito's review against another edition
4.0
This series keeps getting better. Love the look at lesbian lives in the UK in the 90s, plus pretty good murder mystery, too!
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
Ex-journalist Lindsay Gordon has another look at a case that saw a friend locked up in prison for murder when she gets back to Glasgow. I've missed out some of the action that happened before ut that didn't really matter when reading this book I don't think and I was still happy to see that Lindsay got a happy ending.
balthazarlawson's review against another edition
3.0
Lindsay Gordon has been in hiding in Italy since the end of the 2nd book in the series. She now returns to Glasgow where she is hired to prove a friend is innocent of murder, even though she has already been charged, convicted and sentenced. Lindsay has to confront her past and overcome her regrets if she is to prove her friend's innocence.
This is an enjoyable read but I didn't particularly like the ending. But still work reading.
This is an enjoyable read but I didn't particularly like the ending. But still work reading.
futurelegend's review against another edition
3.0
A Glasgow journalist is convicted of the murder of the woman who ensnared her in an affair, and her former partner calls in Lindsay Gordon to try to clear her name. But the web the dead woman wove is intricate and Lindsay's employer may just be trying too hard to be helpful. Enjoyable and well-worked out; keeps you guessing until near the end.
lauraellis's review against another edition
3.0
The third in the Lindsay G mysteries, where she comes back from her exile to Glasgow, her hometown, to find her lover Cordelia with a new woman, a friend in jail for supposedly murdering another lesbian, whom Lindsey herself had a tortured affair with awhile ago. It had some good twists and an unexpected ending.
leighryks's review against another edition
Deadline for murder : the third Lindsay Gordon mystery by Val McDermid (1997)
stefhyena's review
4.0
I read this some years ago. Rereading it this week was an absolute pleasure, possibly biased by a slight crush I have on Lindsay Gordon (I probably would find her difficult in real life). It would have been even better I think to reread the one before, so if you get the chance read these in the right order for continuity.
Lindsay returns to Glasgow to find an ex lover has been murdered and a good friend is in gaol for it. The friend's partner has shacked up with Lindsay's partner and I have to admit I found some of the emotional drama around that a bit awkward and not completely to my liking. Lindsay has nowhere to go so stays with another old friend who has recently broken up with her own girlfriend.
See all these strong, feminist, lesbian characters had me already enjoying myself (even years ago when I read it and I was still kidding myself I was straight and I couldn't have said why I liked Lindsay better than McDermid's other -also fantastic- female sleuth Kate Brannigan). But the people around Jackie (the accused) know she didn't do it and the police have not had the resources to keep looking after finding someone who looked like the murderer. It's up to Lindsay to untangle the plot of the murder as well as a burglary she herself gets accused of, all while trying to work around her residual attraction to her faithless ex, Cordelia and her hatred of Cordelia's new lover, Claire.
I am not sure whether I guessed who the murderer was, or sort of remembered from the past. I suspect the latter. All the clues were there but it is an involved enough plot that not everything is immediately clear. Some of Lindsay's conversations are full of needless drama but she is solid and likeable on the whole. The writing flows well with sometimes a touch of over-explanation...but it didn't manage to grate me. Sex happened in the book but we didn't have to watch it!
I will definitely be trying to get copies of all the Lindsay Gordon books to reread them and I recommend them to anyone who likes a bit of feminism in their mystery or to see some lesbian characters centred for a change. Also just anyone who likes a fast-paced and well-twisted mystery without too much gore or psychologising.
Lindsay returns to Glasgow to find an ex lover has been murdered and a good friend is in gaol for it. The friend's partner has shacked up with Lindsay's partner and I have to admit I found some of the emotional drama around that a bit awkward and not completely to my liking. Lindsay has nowhere to go so stays with another old friend who has recently broken up with her own girlfriend.
See all these strong, feminist, lesbian characters had me already enjoying myself (even years ago when I read it and I was still kidding myself I was straight and I couldn't have said why I liked Lindsay better than McDermid's other -also fantastic- female sleuth Kate Brannigan). But the people around Jackie (the accused) know she didn't do it and the police have not had the resources to keep looking after finding someone who looked like the murderer. It's up to Lindsay to untangle the plot of the murder as well as a burglary she herself gets accused of, all while trying to work around her residual attraction to her faithless ex, Cordelia and her hatred of Cordelia's new lover, Claire.
I am not sure whether I guessed who the murderer was, or sort of remembered from the past. I suspect the latter. All the clues were there but it is an involved enough plot that not everything is immediately clear. Some of Lindsay's conversations are full of needless drama but she is solid and likeable on the whole. The writing flows well with sometimes a touch of over-explanation...but it didn't manage to grate me. Sex happened in the book but we didn't have to watch it!
I will definitely be trying to get copies of all the Lindsay Gordon books to reread them and I recommend them to anyone who likes a bit of feminism in their mystery or to see some lesbian characters centred for a change. Also just anyone who likes a fast-paced and well-twisted mystery without too much gore or psychologising.
undertheteacup's review against another edition
4.0
As I expected, McDermid's skill grows throughout the series. By this installment her writing has grown more subtle and nuanced, supporting the story she's trying to tell rather than getting in the way of it.
There's a lot to enjoy in this book. As always, Lindsay makes for a great hero. She's intensely hot-headed in her personal life yet performs her role of journalist/investigator with cool aplomb, which makes things interesting when those two roles intersect, as they do in this novel! She's also full of seemingly contradictory principles and values: a working-class lesbian sensibility that always has her seeking out the underdog and criticizing the classism and misogyny she comes across, but which doesn't prevent her from manipulating and using marginalized people's vulnerability against them if it means saving the people she cares about.
There's also the fact that McDermid is clearly a Scottish writer and she's not writing for an outsider perspective. She doesn't take the time to explain every single little detail that for example an American might not understand. She just lets you figure it out as you go along, which makes the story immensely more satisfying and immersive. Especially because McDermid really is intimately familiar not only with Glasgow but also with the ins and outs of tabloid journalism. All the books have a very strong sense of place and time, with all the relevant political and social currents of the late 80s in evidence.
Finally, there's the women who love women. Sadly this particular volume is ridiculously bi-phobic, as the one character who is extensively shown to have lovers of multiple genders also ends up dead and has really terrible moral character. (Alison's character was so intriguing, especially in the contrast between how she was raised and how she ran her adult life - McDermid really missed out when she chose to forego deeper character development in favor of the superficial 'femme fatale' thing). So that puts kind of a damper on the fact that there are all these lesbians running around unapologetically loving, living with, and having sex with each other.
There's a lot to enjoy in this book. As always, Lindsay makes for a great hero. She's intensely hot-headed in her personal life yet performs her role of journalist/investigator with cool aplomb, which makes things interesting when those two roles intersect, as they do in this novel! She's also full of seemingly contradictory principles and values: a working-class lesbian sensibility that always has her seeking out the underdog and criticizing the classism and misogyny she comes across, but which doesn't prevent her from manipulating and using marginalized people's vulnerability against them if it means saving the people she cares about.
There's also the fact that McDermid is clearly a Scottish writer and she's not writing for an outsider perspective. She doesn't take the time to explain every single little detail that for example an American might not understand. She just lets you figure it out as you go along, which makes the story immensely more satisfying and immersive. Especially because McDermid really is intimately familiar not only with Glasgow but also with the ins and outs of tabloid journalism. All the books have a very strong sense of place and time, with all the relevant political and social currents of the late 80s in evidence.
Finally, there's the women who love women. Sadly this particular volume is ridiculously bi-phobic, as the one character who is extensively shown to have lovers of multiple genders also ends up dead and has really terrible moral character. (Alison's character was so intriguing, especially in the contrast between how she was raised and how she ran her adult life - McDermid really missed out when she chose to forego deeper character development in favor of the superficial 'femme fatale' thing). So that puts kind of a damper on the fact that there are all these lesbians running around unapologetically loving, living with, and having sex with each other.
alicelover_1's review
2.0
I found the story to be okay but I didn't really like most of the characters. They were just so stupid. Even when all the evidence was put forth the characters just wouldn't accept it simply because they knew the killer. Claire wouldn't accept her gf was the killer and attacked Lindsay for figuring out that her gf was the killer. AND THEN SHE BLAMES LINDSAY. And then Lindsay lets the killer get away with murder simply because she used to date her and the killer is claustrophobic and doesn't want to go to prison. I mean, the chick that got killed was a horrible person but they let the killer get away with murder. An innocent person was put in jail because of the killer. I frankly don't care whats happens to any of the characters to be honest.