A Bad, Bad Place - by Frances Crawford (Hardcover)

About the Book

"If it hadn't been for her wee stupid dog Sid Vicious, 12-year-old Janey Devine might never have stumbled upon the corpse of Samantha Watson. And then maybe she'd still be able to sleep at night. And maybe her nana wouldn't be so worried sick all the time. And maybe Billy "The Ghost" Watson, a notorious gangster, wouldn't be on her tail--for it's Billy's daughter who was left for dead on those train tracks, and now Billy wants answers. Fear and gossip spread through the tight-knit community of Possilpark, Glasgow, and while Janey swears she can't remember the details of that morning, the cops think she's hiding something--and indeed, there's something she knows that she's not quite ready to tell anyone else, not even her nana, who won't rest until this whole thing is behind them."-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A gritty and poignant debut about a young working-class girl in 1979 Glasgow who happens upon the body of a murdered woman--and must face an insular community desperate for answers, as well as herself.

Glasgow, 1979: If it hadn't been for her wee stupid dog, Sid Vicious, twelve-year-old Janey Devine might never have stumbled upon the corpse of Samantha Watson. And then maybe she'd still be able to sleep at night. And maybe her nana wouldn't be so worried all the time. And maybe Billy "The Ghost" Watson, a
notorious gangster, wouldn't be on her tail--for it's Billy's daughter who was left for dead on those train tracks, and now Billy wants answers.

Fear and gossip have spread through the tight-knit community of Possilpark, and while Janey swears she can't remember the details of that morning, the cops think she's hiding something--and indeed, there's something she knows that she's not quite ready to tell anyone, not even her nana, who won't rest until this whole thing is behind them.

Shot through with remarkable humor, Frances Crawford's stunning debut is a coming-of-age whodunit, an intimate portrait of a working-class neighborhood that weaves Janey's innocent candor and her nana's hard-earned wisdom into a sweeping tale of grief and survival that marks the arrival of a major new voice in crime fiction.

Review Quotes

Praise for A Bad, Bad Place

"A Bad, Bad Place is a great, great book--my favorite kind, in fact: the kind that illuminates the dark of the past by laying a bonfire of a story at its heart. Frances Crawford, the preternaturally gifted author of this magical new novel, works bright magic here; very rarely have I felt so transported by a story, or so enmeshed in a community of characters, bound by love and fear and language. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part Louise Welsh, yet altogether incomparable."
--A. J. Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"A moving evocation of working-class lives. It's clever, honest, heart-rending, and funny too. It doesn't shy away from the darkness but it also reveals the love and compassion that sustain people. And it's wonderfully twisty too, giving our assumptions a good shake-up."
―Val McDermid, internationally #1 bestselling author of Past Lying

"The very best writing can transport you through time and place--well, A Bad, Bad Place took me to Glasgow, to 1979 and to a young girl who discovers a brutal murder, the repercussions of which resound across a troubled community. It's hard to believe this richly authentic, funny, moving, and insightful story, beautifully written in local dialect, is actually a debut. Bravo, Frances Crawford!"
―Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal

"Gripping, gruesome, and so gritty you can smell it. A visceral and exciting debut."
--Belinda Bauer, author of Blacklands

"Haunting . . . Crawford shrewdly toggles between Janey's viewpoint and her grandmother's as the hunt for the killer slowly unfolds, capturing the fading innocence of a young girl and the complex social dynamics of a struggling but close-knit community. This marks the arrival of a promising new voice."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Love and Janey's innocence and smarts make this a novel to remember . . . A gem."
--First Clue Reviews

About the Author

As a passionate advocate of lifelong learning, Frances Crawford was delighted to graduate with distinction at age sixty from Glasgow University's Creative Writing program. Frances grew up in North Glasgow and credits the people of Possilpark and Milton as her writing inspiration. She still lives in Glasgow with her family and likes libraries and punk rock. A Bad, Bad Place is her debut novel.