Val McDermid is one of my favorite writers. So I jumped at the chance to read her latest. I thank Netgalley for that chance Of course my experience with her writing is limited to 3 mysteries in the same series (see reviews at https://www.jackreidy.com/blog/2020/10/05/still-life-by-val-mcdermid/).

This new series looked very different. The setting is a newspaper in 1979 rather than a police station and main characters are reporters rather than police officers so I was unsure of how would like it. But because it was written by Val McDermid, I thought it well-worth a try.

It was very different from the books I had previously read but it was very good. Two young reporters in Glasgow form a working partnership and investigate a tax evasion scheme.
The characters are well-written and there are many twists and turns along the way.

This appears to be the first installment in a new series of books featuring journalist Allie Burns. I look forward to reading the second. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you are a Val McDermid fan.