Customer Reviews

Report for Murder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

"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.

Having read several of her later books I was looking forward to this one but was very disappointed.
This could have been one of Enid Blytons Famous Five stories apart from the sexual orientation of a few characters and that they were knocking back whisky instead of lashings of ginger beer!
Really would the headmistress of a private girls school ask a journalist to hang around after someone is murdered at the school - surely you would want the journalist as far away as possible. And allowing said journalist to question staff and pupils, particularly the pupils without a suitable adult present - sorry but too unbelievable for me.
For those concerned about the lesbian aspects don't be to worried there are no detailed descriptions of bedroom antics.
Had I read this book before any others I would have steered clear of Val MacDermid but really this is so different from her later books, too tame for me.

I've had this book on my stack for way too long and have been meaning to read it for over a year. I may have read it when it first came out in the 1980's, but I don't recall it, so it was a fun one to read. Lindsay is an appealing character, and the mystery and her work are well-written, interesting, and just easy to fall into completely. Excellent book, and I look forward to reading all of the series.