Denise Mina (born 21 August 1966) is a Scottishcrime writer and playwright. She has written theGarnethill trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia "Paddy" Meehan, aGlasgowjournalist. Described as an author ofTartan Noir, she has also written forcomic books, including 13 issues ofHellblazer.[1]
Denise Mina was born inEast Kilbride in 1966. Her father worked as an engineer. Because of his work, the family moved 21 times in 18 years: from Paris toThe Hague, London, Scotland andBergen; she has also professed an affection forRutherglen, her mother's home town.[4] Mina left school at 16 and worked in a variety of jobs, including as a kitchen porter, a cook and behind a bar. She also worked for a time in a meat-processing factory. In her twenties she worked in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients, before returning to education and earning a law degree fromGlasgow University.[5]
It was while researching a PhD thesis on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, and teaching criminology and criminal law atStrathclyde University in the 1990s, that she decided to write her first novelGarnethill, published in 1998 byTransworld.
