Two of my favorite crime writers hail from Scotland. Ian Rankin lives in Edinburgh and his stories are mostly set there. Denise Mina lives in Glasgow and her stories are often set there. But her latest one, "Blood, Salt, Water," is set in another town entirely, a place called Helensburgh. This community is located in a beautiful spot right on the oceanfront. It was once the playground for millionaires. The mouldering ruins of their Victorian mansions are now rotting high up on the hillsides.
The story begins with a murder. One of the killers has a supernatural experience as the murder is taking place. This haunts him. Detective Alex Morrow is working on a totally different case that eventually draws her into this murder investigation. We know from the start who did it and as Mina explains in this interview she's not that interested in writing whodunnits. She's more inclined to write about why somebody commits a crime like that, the whydunnit.
This is a fabulous novel and Denise Mina has become such a force in this genre. I love her work.
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