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Field of Blood  By  cover art

Field of Blood

By: Denise Mina
Narrated by: Heather O'Neill
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Publisher's summary

A neophyte journalist becomes intimately involved in her first assignment: a brutal murder. This is the explosive start of a new series by the author of the acclaimed Garnethill trilogy.

Little Brian Wilcox's murder is the hottest story in Scotland. Every major newspaper crowds its pages with stories examining the crime from every angle. If only Paddy Meehan could get a scoop on the case. A nationally syndicated story would surely launch her fledgling journalism career out of the free local rag she's been working at.

But when the connection Paddy had been hoping for finally comes, it only threatens her career and family. Callum, her fiance Sean's young cousin, is implicated in Brian's murder, and when Paddy foolishly confides in her equally ambitious coworker, Heather, all hell breaks loose. Heather betrays her and sells the story to a major newspaper, making the entire Meehan clan turn on Paddy. The only way Paddy can redeem herself in their eyes is to clear Callum's name. As Glasgow buzzes with the scandal, Paddy notices a similarity between Brian's murder and the murder of a local boy several years earlier. Using her investigative skills, Paddy sets out to solve the case, at any cost.

©2005 Denise Mina (P)2005 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Mina...has helped make Scotland a leading exporter of world-class crime fiction." (The Washington Post)

What listeners say about Field of Blood

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wrong Accent

What did you love best about Field of Blood?

Good story that held the interest

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot twisted enough but did not bamboozle

How could the performance have been better?

Reader had the wrong accent and so all the characters from Glasgow had accents from Northern Ireland. Also reader mispronounced the name of the most famous street in Glasgow as well as the name of the football team known the world over.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • JD
  • 08-20-06

great protagoneuse

Field of Blood is a clever and unique but perfectly plausible mystery. It took about 1 1/2 hours of listening to slug through the introduction of characters and get used to the Scottish accent. After that it was quite smooth. The plot was well crafted, and as with all good thrllers keeps just ahead of what you can guess will happen next. The prose combined local dialect with excellent turns of phrase. The characters, particularly the underconfident but determined protagnoist, were a delight. The subplots and development of the minor characters were interesting and satisfying as well.
This book starts slow but builds quickly, and the listener who sticks with it you will be amply rewarded.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A good book, not as good as Slip of the Knife

This story describes the background of how Patty Meehan gets into the newspaper business.
Mostly enjoyable, but the part where she is beat up by the villain and just bounces back stretches credulity.
I enjoy the setting of her books in working class Glasgow.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

I love the main character and her dissatisfaction with having to do only what is expected of her and her wanting so much more than that.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Mina grows

This was much less searing than the trilogy, so for me it was even more enjoyable. The author has a unique take on characters, and a real talent for sharing their voices. The twists and turns got a bit contrived at times, but I never lost interest. A great story, if you're tired of the humdrum. The reader was pure magic.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Well done!

I mistakenly bought an abridged version of this book. It would have been so much better in its entirety. However I found myself caught up in it anyway. The protagonist, an overweight woman from a dysfunctional middle-class Glasgow famiy and an ambitious journalist, was a refreshing change from the usual well-heeled, well-groomed "perfect" person who sniffs out a crime and runs amuck. The insights into this woman's inner life and her culture that is at the same time related to ours yet alien, kept me listening. At first the narrator's Scottish dialect was annoying but then became bonded to the story and surrounded me in the grey cloud of North Scotland. I hope this writer comes up with another soon.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not up to expectations

I tried one of this author's books because it was mentioned on a BBC talk show. I like mysteries and was looking for someone new to read. I never warmed to the central character or her family. I found the narrator's phony brogue very distracting. I might try a later book by Mina just to see is there's a difference (and if the narrator is better). I struggled to finish this, hoping it would get better. It just got more violent.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Heather O’Neill you destroyed this book

Whoever employed this narrator should be shot. I’m not even sure what accent she’s trying to do, best guess it’s Irish even though it’s a Scottish book. She can’t even pronounce place names correctly. I have ordered the printed books and will be getting a refund on the audiobooks as I can’t listen to this appallingly bad accent without cringing every time it drops, so can’t follow the story.
Oh dear Heather NEVER use an accent again - you have humiliated the author, offended all Scottish and Irish people and embarrassed yourself beyond belief.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

How did I live so long without Mina?

Field of Blood is bloody amazing A novel that busts right by genre boundaries, brings tears without a single jerk, and makes the mysteries inside even minor characters as compelling as the mystery the chsracters solve. O'Neill's narrstion grated a little at first, but seemed necessary by the close. As a former ink-stained wretch, I could be an easy mark for this lamentation on journalism, but I like just as much the other Mina I've started to read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great protagonist!

Love love love Paddy! So full of fun and and sassy. More Paddy books please!

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1 person found this helpful