Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the very beginning, 8 Jul 2006
From what i gather this is the first book of Ms Mcdermids to ever be published (but dont quote me on that! :) ). A lot of people say she started off badly and matured into the great writer that she is but I can't agree with that. Yes, she has improved over the years but the characters and stories she tends to write now are darker than the initial Lindsay Gordon ones. This means a lot of wit and humour has been lost from the early years.
If you like a good laugh mixed in with your basic whodunnit then you'll love this book.
Lindsay Gordon is a journalist down on her luck and short for cash which leads her to take a job covering an event at an all girls school. Not long after a body is discovered and she gets embroiled in trying to solve the crime since one of her friends gets accused of the murder.
She manages to start up a relationship along the way too!
A good, relatively short read to relax to on a saturday afternoon.
Happy reading..
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What a beginning, 8 Jul 2004
If you're interested in beginning to read the works of Val McDermid, this is not a book I'd recommend you start with. This may sound somewhat strange advice, after all, where better to start than the beginning? However, it must be said that McDermid's later works are generally considered to be of a higher calibre than her earlier publications.This aside, the Lindsay Gordon novels are still a gripping read. The writing isn't so mature, but the story lines are gripping enough for it to be passed over. As the first of the series, this book introduces Lindsay as a character and gives a brief background that is not fully built on until the fourth novel, Union Jack. From the off, it's obvious that Lindsay isn't your average protagonist. Anyone who describes herself as a 'cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist' has got to break the mould just a touch. The book works very much to the formula of an Agatha Christie novel, with Lindsay and her new lover Cordelia running around gathering alibis, establishing motives, and narrowing down the list of suspects. The plot takes a number of twists and should leave you guessing until the last chapter as to the real culprit. Alongside the murder investigation, emphasis is also put on Lindsay's developing relationship with Cordelia, which makes for an interesting sub-plot. Some of the dialogue is somewhat wooden, and McDermid never lets you forget where Lindsay's political and social ideals lie. Nevertheless, the characters are engaging and have a knack of making you care for them and their lives. Overall, if you're looking to discover what all the recent rave reviews about McDermid are about, this isn't the book for you. But if you're interesting in an entertaining and enjoyable read from a strongly feminist slant, then this may well be the book for you.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smart, Tenacious, Daring, Loyal and Class Conscious, 16 Sep 2005
"The fact that she cheerfully despised the job she was about to do was not a new sensation. In the unreal world of popular journalism which she inhabited, she was continually faced with tasks that made her blood boil." thus we begin to learn about Lindsay Gordon, self-proclaimed "cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist". In "Report for Murder" Lindsay, who was commissioned to write a feature article on a girls' boarding school, Derbyshire House Girls' School, finds a story, but not the one she was hired to write.Lindsay arrives at the school to meet an old friend Paddy Callaghan, who was a Housemistress at this school. A weekend of book auctions, classical music and lectures to raise money, turns into a weekend of murder. As improbable as it may seem, Lindsay is hired by the School head, Pamela Overton, to find the real murderer after Paddy has been arrested. This intricate investigation of the death of Lorna Smith-Couper, a classical musician and hated woman by many people, will amaze some and annoy many. The old world of England and Scotland comes to the fore in this story. The rolling hills, the fog, the beauty of the countryside, the Pubs, and the townhouses in the cities, London and Dublin, are explored and described with magnanimous features. Lindsay is a force to be reckoned with. She is indubitable and when she finds a new love, we applaud. The students and other teachers at this school are genuine and loveable. The story is fast paced and fun. This is a realistic detective story with a prickly and complex detective.
A friend recommended this book to me and it was immensely enjoyable. A new twist and turn in every chapter. Recommended. prisrob
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