Report for Murder (Lindsay Gordon mystery) [Hardcover]

Val McDermid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2000 | Series: Lindsay Gordon mystery

First in the popular series featuring Lindsay Gordon, a self-proclaimed 'cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist' with a penchant for hanging around police interrogation rooms under suspicion of some crime or other. Freelance journalist Lindsay Gordon is strapped for cash. Why else would she agree to cover a fund-raising gala at a girls' public school? But when the star attraction is found garrotted with her own cello string minutes before she is due on stage, Lindsay finds herself investigating a vicious murder. Who would have wanted Lorna Smith Cooper dead? Who had the key to the locked room in which her body was found? And who could have slipped out of the hall at just the right time to commit this calculated and cold-blooded crime?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This promising debut from a British writer introduces Lindsay Gordon, who mockingly describes herself as "a cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist." Commissioned to write a story on Derbyshire House Girls' School in the North of England, Lindsay encounters strong undercurrents of hatred--against developer James Cartwright, who wants to turn the school's playing fields into holiday flats and a leisure complex, and against celebrated cellist and old girl Lorna Smith-Couper, who also appears to have a talent for making enemies and fomenting discord. During a fund-raising concert, Lorna is found strangled with a cello string, and schoolmistress Paddy Callaghan, an old friend of Lindsay's, is charged with the murder. Lindsay sets out solve the crime with the aid of noted playwright Cordelia Brown, another old girl, who had written and staged a play for the fund-raiser. McDermid has created a complex and prickly detective, whose working-class background sets her at odds with her companions, particularly her new lover, Cordelia. The shifting relationship intertwines a realistic romance with a solid detective story.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The first US publication of a novel that appeared in 1987 in England. Here, gay journalist Lindsay Gordon (Deadline for Murder, 1997, etc.), based in Glasgow and presently freelancing to eke out a living, makes her debut when longtime friend Paddy Callaghan, a drama teacher at the Derbyshire House Girls' School, gets her a magazine assignment for a story on the school's fund-raising weekendan event that's part of the schools battle to fend off builder James Cartwright, who wants to buy its athletic fields for residential development. Other weekend guests include novelist/talk-show star Cordelia Brown and famed cellist Lorna Smith-Coupey. As the audience awaits a benefit concert that evening, Lorna is discovered dead-garrotted by a cello stringin one of the backstage music rooms. In short order, a truculent Inspector Dart has jailed Paddy for the killing, and school head Pamela Overton has authorized Lindsay and Cordelia (lovers at first sight) to try to find evidence to clear Paddy. A string of tedious interviews, plus repetitive reviews of time frames and alibis, produces a host of Lorna-hating suspects, but it's a second death that pushes our journalist-sleuth to a violent confrontation with the not-so-surprising killer. Clumsy plotting, relentlessly verbose characters, and a sluggish pace don't help Lindsay's overextended debut outingone of the author's lesser efforts. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (July 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727855549
• ISBN-13: 978-0727855541
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,743,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally back in print-YES!, March 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Report for Murder (Paperback)

When her friend Paddy Callaghan, the headmistress of an exclusive girls school, asks Lindsay Gordon to write an article on fundraising, she reluctantly agrees. Even though she loathes spending time at the elite Derbyshire boarding school, Lindsay accepted the assignment because Paddy is an old school chum.

When Lindsay arrives at her destination, she soon learns the dire financial straits confronting the school. Several of the illustrious alumni have returned to help raise money. For instance, the renowned musician Lorna Smith-Couper will perform a benefit concert to raise some cash. However, the famous cellist is found strangled just prior to her concert. Lindsay soon learns that the victim had many enemies. Soon, Paddy asks Lindsay and Cordelia (a writer who Lindsay is very attracted to) save the school and its reputation from ruin by solving the killing.

REPORT FOR MURDER is a reprint of the debut novel of Lindsay Gordon, a wonderful character, who remains relevant and interesting. Though the lesbian-leanings of Lindsay may turn off some readers, Val McDermid handles her star's sexual preference with finesse and good taste. The story line is intriguing and demonstrates why Ms. McDermid has won several awards. This gritty, on its head cosy is a brilliant amateur sleuth who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book holds fond memories!, January 15, 2005

By 

Autumn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Report for Murder (Paperback)

This is the first book in Val McDermid's first published series, so by its very being it IS special. That said, at the time I read this, I had read many of her other books, and it was very, very different. It was much cuter.

Cute may not have been what Ms. McDermid was going for, but that does not make the story bad, not by a long shot. Indeed, while it may not contain the creepy elements that get under one's skin as in later McDermid novels, I found main character Lindsay's class consciousness to be quite intriguing.

This novel is not for everyone. It is only for those whose preconceptions' about homosexuals won't get in the way of their ability to digest the novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Tenacious, Daring, Loyal and Class Conscious, September 15, 2005

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Report for Murder (Paperback)

"The fact that she cheerfully despised the job she was about to do was not a new sensation. In the unreal world of popular journalism which she inhabited, she was continually faced with tasks that made her blood boil." thus we begin to learn about Lindsay Gordon, self-proclaimed "cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist". In "Report for Murder" Lindsay, who was commissioned to write a feature article on a girls' boarding school, Derbyshire House Girls' School, finds a story, but not the one she was hired to write.

Lindsay arrives at the school to meet an old friend Paddy Callaghan, who was a Housemistress at this school. A weekend of book auctions, classical music and lectures to raise money, turns into a weekend of murder. As improbable as it may seem, Lindsay is hired by the School head, Pamela Overton, to find the real murderer after Paddy has been arrested. This intricate investigation of the death of Lorna Smith-Couper, a classical musician and hated woman by many people, will amaze some and annoy many. The old world of England and Scotland comes to the fore in this story. The rolling hills, the fog, the beauty of the countryside, the Pubs, and the townhouses in the cities, London and Dublin, are explored and described with magnanimous features. Lindsay is a force to be reckoned with. She is indubitable and when she finds a new love, we applaud. The students and other teachers at this school are genuine and loveable. The story is fast paced and fun. This is a realistic detective story with a prickly and complex detective.

A friend recommended this book to me and it was immensely enjoyable. A new twist and turn in every chapter. Recommended. prisrob.