The Good Liar

Denise Mina

$45

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Harvill Secker
31 August 2025

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Crime & Mystery; Thriller & suspense

What will it take to tell the truth when your life depends on a lie? This is the question a blood spatter expert grapples with when she realises she sent the wrong person to prison. The 20th novel from NYT bestseller and Costa-shortlisted crime writer Denise Mina, for fans of Tana French and Elly Griffiths.

'Authentic, compelling and written with wit so sharp it'll cut your fingers. Once again, Denise Mina shows the rest of us how it's done' ERIN KELLY

Blood washes off, but guilt stains . . .

A year ago, a father and his fiancee were brutally stabbed in their opulent London townhouse, sparking the most high-profile murder investigation in recent history. Blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O'Sheil's evidence put the killer behind bars-or so everyone believes. But since the trial, recently widowed Claudia has learned a horrific truth. Her evidence and her testimony were wrong. And someone she knows made sure of it.

Now, as she takes the stage before the elite of London to give a career-defining speech, Claudia faces a devastating choice. Protect her children and her livelihood with her continued complicity, or blow the whole conspiracy apart and reveal the truth- not only is the real murderer still out there, but they're in the audience.

As Claudia steps toward the microphone, she revisits that fateful night. What really happened? And what speech will Claudia give?

A taut, intelligent suspense novel for fans of Val McDermid, Elly Griffiths and Tana French, The Good Liar is about power, class, and the lengths we're willing to go for family.

Praise for Denise Mina 'Crime-writing royalty' IAN RANKIN 'A delight' ANN CLEEVES 'Highly original' THE TIMES

'Darkly brilliant' OBSERVER

By: Denise Mina
Imprint: Harvill Secker
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9781787304284
ISBN 10: 1787304280
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 31 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Denise Mina is the bestselling author of the Garnethill trilogy, the Paddy Meehan series and the Alex Morrow series, as well as historical novels Rizzio, Three Fires and The Second Murderer, a Philip Marlowe novel for the Chandler estate. She has won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice, the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year twice, the Gordon Burn Prize and was inducted into the Crime Writers' Association Hall of Fame in 2014. Denise also writes graphic novels and plays, and presents television and radio programmes. She studied law and forensic examination at Glasgow University and taught criminology and criminal law part-time at Strathclyde University. Denise lives and works in Glasgow. The Good Liar is her twentieth novel.

Reviews for The Good Liar

Authentic, compelling and written with wit so sharp it’ll cut your fingers. Once again, Denise Mina shows the rest of us how it’s done -- Erin Kelly Filled with intelligence, intensity, and empathy, The Good Liar is a taut, propulsive mystery about family, truth, and morality. Denise Mina is such a talent -- Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Note