Slacks for Ella Funt

Mina’s protagonist is the most unlikely crime solver I’ve ever encountered. Maureen O’Donnell has had severe mental health issues, and stuck in a menial job at a theatre ticket office. She’s sleeping with one of the married psychologists from her clinic (though at least not her personal psychologist) and her family, besides for her drug dealer brother, don’t believe her about her childhood sexual abuse and think she’s insane. When her psychologist boyfriend is found murdered in her apartment, the police treat her and her brother as the prime suspects. Eventually Maureen sorts out who really killed him, but at no point does she seem sure of herself as a crime solver, which is unusual in crime fiction. I liked this quite a bit–Mina has an dry, witty authorial voice and the gritty side of her Glasgow reminded me quite a bit of Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh.