MY SIX BEST BOOKS
DENISE MINA, 51, is known for her “Tartan Noir” novels, two of which have been made into TV dramas, The Field Of Blood and The Dead Hour. She also wrote the Garnethill trilogy. Her latest novel The Long Drop is out now (Vintage, £8.99) TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
by Harper Lee
Vintage Classics, £7.99 I didn’t read much as a child but I read this several times. I thought it amazing that you could talk about complex social issues through a simple narrative and not even suggest a solution. I did a law degree so it seems a bit self-indulgent just to tell stories. THE MASTER AND MARGARITA
by Mikhail Bulgakov
Vintage, £7.99 I hadn’t read anything for a long time then I went on holiday with some friends, one of whom had this. It’s a strange story about the Devil coming to Moscow but it’s a glimpse into another world.
In 1985, I felt I was in a culty group of people reading newly translated books out of the USSR. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE
by Gabriel García Márquez
Penguin, £8.99 A seminal book that people roll their eyes about these days but the idea of creating a new world with a whole new epic landscape where everybody has the same name is audacious. POSTMORTEM
by Patricia Cornwell
Sphere, £8.99 She has lost favour now but this is a perfect crime novel. It’s the first in the Kay Scarpetta series and the arc of it is beautiful. In her later books, the characters are powerful and they end in a shootout. But in this, the character’s a bit beleaguered. THE BETRAYAL
by Helen Dunmore
Penguin, £8.99 Dunmore will be remembered in 200 years. Her descriptions of small, strange worlds are heartbreaking and her prose style is incredible. This is about the Stalinist persecution of a doctor. A lot of crime novels are spectacular and gory. This isn’t but has the same narrative pace. HAPPY LIKE MURDERERS
by Gordon Burn
Out of print This is about Fred and Rosemary West but written in a high-art style giving an insight into the way they thought. The Wests were disgusting. I gave it to a friend who thought it was brilliant. She took it to her reading group and nearly got thrown out.