Synopsis
In the brilliant sequel to Field of Blood, reporter Paddy Meehan is riding high on the success of solving the Brian Wilcox case. Then she meets a mysterious blonde who later turns up dead.
Paddy Meehan is thrilled with her new job: working the police beat at the newspaper. Responding to a late night call, she arrives at an elegant villa, where a calm blonde woman with blood on her mouth answers the door. The woman has already convinced the police to leave, and soon Paddy realizes how: she slips fifty dollars into Paddy’s hand and begs her to keep the incident—whatever it is—out of the press.
The next morning, Paddy sees the lead news story: The woman has been murdered. Soon after, the body of a suicide is pulled from the river. Was the blonde more than just a spoiled trophy wife?
Original material © 2006 Denise Mina Recorded by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company (Inc.). All rights reserved.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
In a book whose mystery plot is its least surprising aspect (though not its least forceful: Kate winds up killing someone with her stiletto heel), The Dead Hour takes its heroine a long way. She is nobody s hen by the end of the story. With regret but determination, she has edged at least part of the way out of the Meehan nest. And she is moving into the boys club dominated by her male colleagues.