Below is the complete list of Denise Mina books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Garnethill Books
Publication Order of Paddy Meehan Books
Publication Order of Millennium: The Graphic Novels Books
with Stieg Larsson
Publication Order of Alex Morrow Books
Publication Order of Anna and Fin Books
Publication Order of Standalone Books
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas Books
Publication Order of Graphic Novels Books
Publication Order of Bibliomysteries Books
Publication Order of Vertigo Crime Books
Publication Order of Philip Marlowe Books
Publication Order of Darkland Tales Books
- Queen Macbeth (2024)
(By Val McDermid)
Queen Macbeth was first published in 2024; within the Darkland Tales series, it is listed as book #5. 
Publication Order of Hellblazer Graphic Novels Books
About Denise Mina
Denise Mina is a Scottish crime novelist, playwright, graphic-novel writer, and broadcaster whose work has become closely associated with the darker, socially observant tradition of modern Glasgow crime fiction. Rather than treating murder as an isolated puzzle, she writes about the structures surrounding it: poverty, class, gender, religion, institutional authority, family loyalty, media pressure, and the unequal ways victims are regarded. Her protagonists are often women navigating environments that underestimate or dismiss them, from the traumatized Maureen O’Donnell of the Garnethill trilogy to journalist Paddy Meehan and Glasgow detective Alex Morrow.
Born in East Kilbride in 1966, Mina had an unusually mobile childhood because of her father’s work as an engineer. The family lived in numerous places, including Glasgow, London, Paris, Bergen, Invergordon, and Perth. She left school at sixteen and worked in a variety of jobs before returning to education as an adult.
Mina studied law at the University of Glasgow, where she developed an interest in criminology and forensic issues. She later undertook postgraduate research at Strathclyde University on the treatment and classification of mentally ill female offenders. During that period she began writing the novel that became Garnethill.
Published in 1998, Garnethill introduced Maureen O’Donnell, a psychiatric patient novel that became Garnethill.
Published in 1998, *Garn and survivor of childhood sexual abuse who discovers her boyfriend murdered in her Glasgow flat. Because her history makes her an easy suspect, Maureen is forced to investigate partly to defend herself. The novel won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Dagger for best first crime novel and was followed by Exile and Resolution, completing a trilogy notable for its unsentimental treatment of trauma, family dysfunction, and working-class Glasgow.
Mina then created Paddy Meehan, a young newspaper worker trying to establish herself as a reporter during the 1980s. Beginning with The Field of Blood, the trilogy places crime alongside sexism, sectarianism, tabloid journalism, and the rapidly changing newspaper industry. The novels were later adapted for BBC television.
Detective Alex Morrow brought Mina more directly into police procedural territory. Beginning with Still Midnight, the five-book sequence follows a Glasgow detective confronting cases shaped by organized crime, family histories, political pressure, and the divisions running through the city. The End of the Wasp Season and Gods and Beasts each won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in successive years.
Her standalone fiction has been equally varied. The Long Drop reconstructs the world surrounding 1950s Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel and won both the Gordon Burn Prize and the McIlvanney Prize. Conviction and its continuation Confidence blend crime with podcasts, travel, and amateur investigation, while The Less Dead focuses on women whose disappearances have been neglected or devalued. Historical works such as Rizzio and Three Fires move into sixteenth-century Scotland and Renaissance Italy, while The Second Murderer places Mina inside Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe universe. The Good Liar, published in 2025, examines criminal justice and the dangerous authority granted to questionable forensic science.
Mina has also written for DC’s Hellblazer, adapted Stieg Larsson’s Millennium novels into graphic form, and produced plays, television, and radio work. Across those different forms, her strongest interest remains remarkably consistent: whose version of a crime becomes accepted, whose suffering is believed, and what powerful people or institution gain when inconvenient lives are pushed out of view.