Common Murder [Paperback]

Val Mcdermid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1989

The second Lindsay Gordon mystery, reissued to coincide with the publication of the fourth, UNION JACK. When the Chair of the local opposition group to a Peace Camp is murdered, the woman who allegedly assaulted him is accused. Lindsay Gordon has to find the real killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Although a self-assured lesbian, London journalist Lindsay Gordon vacillates between supposed happiness with partner Cordelia and intermittent bliss with former lover Deborah. At the Fordham air base, while covering a violent clash between inhabitants of the women's peace camp and members of a local opposition group, Lindsay finds that police have charged Deborah with assault. When someone murders the alleged "victim," Deborah becomes the prime suspect. Consequently, the women ask Lindsay to investigate. McDermid (Crack Down, LJ 11/1/94) creates believable characters, full-bodied prose, and the usual lovelife complications. A good read.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Lesbian reporter Lindsay Gordon goes to cover the long protest of a cruise missile base by a British women's peace encampment and finds there an attractive ex-lover who is accused of murder, not to mention routine assaults and an official cover-up. Although the book's plot is sometimes contrived and the pacing is uneven, Gordon is a gutsy heroine committed to action, righting wrongs, and solving mysteries who sometimes takes large helpings of abuse and plays both sides of the allegiance fence in order to succeed. As she battles to solve the problems of a monogamous relationship against a background of institutionalized secrecy, lies, and brutality, the author gives readers a strong sense of contemporary England, too. Whitney Scott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing+group Inc (September 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0704342065
• ISBN-13: 978-0704342064
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,288,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, but a little dense, February 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Common Murder: The Second Lindsay Gordon Mystery (Paperback)

I read this as an english person with knowledge, via the media, of the Greenham Common events upon which it as based. I am male, which may be a disadvantage, given the radical lesbian feminist label it adopts, but I enjoyed the alternative perspective. Shall I be honest ? It is not her best. Lindsay and her pals are a bit irritating. the prose is overlong and tends to lose dramatic point as you meander around the, rather hackneyed, plot. But... hey, do not take that as criticism Val. I am enjoing what you are doing and place you in the Paretsky and Parker class when it comes to crime fiction. Maybe my scepticism derives from the fact that it is hard for us anglos to sound glib, hard-boiled etc. Apart that is, from Terry Venables, another once upon a time crime writer. Keep up the good work !

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good easy and fun read, January 4, 2002

By 

"the_gibos" (Cleveland, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Common Murder: The Second Lindsay Gordon Mystery (Paperback)

After reading 'A Place for Execution' I sought out McDermids earlier works. This along with the rest of the Lindsay Gordon series are light, easy and fun reads. I found the characters to be a little left of center, but that is what certainly made them interesting!

The whole Lindsay Gordon series is like a young lesbian version of Murder She Wrote. A little more racey than Jessica Fletcher and a lot more fun.

If you enjoy English humour (dry wit and loads of sarcasm) and want some fun who dunnit mystery reads, read the whole series but do yourself a favor... start with number one and move through the series in order. Will make a lot more sense. Common Murder is number 2 in the series and a fun read, but Lindsay makes a lot more sense if you start with the first book which is 'Report for Murder.'

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Liked it, didn't love it, November 7, 2000

By 

M. Anderson (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Common Murder: The Second Lindsay Gordon Mystery (Paperback)

A short 250ish pages, it would have been better to have cut 100 pages and make this a short story without all of the unnecessary and meaningless character-developing diversions. The book runs along in 3rd gear most of the time, never really reaching a dramatic climax, which is really not good for a mystery, and the pretense is a little hard to believe: intrepid reporter for London tabloid gets everyone's help in solving murder mystery, even help from those who shouldn't be helping her. Certainly not the best mystery out there.