Book review: Report for Murder by Val McDermid

Report for Murder, the first in the Lindsay Gordon series - and McDermid's first ever book - was published in 1987, and I must have read it around then or not long after. (The Women's Press crime imprint, I believe.) Obviously, that's a long time ago, and I don't remember much if anything about it. When it popped up on NetGalley, I was keen to give it a reread and see what, if anything, I did recall.

This new HarperCollins edition has an introduction by Val in which she talks about her literary and life influences, and how she came to create the character of Lindsay (who's not Val, but also is not a million miles away from Val).

Anyway, the plot... Self-proclaimed cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist, Lindsay Gordon, has serious reservations about the job she's been asked to do by her old friend, Paddy Callaghan. Paddy is a housemistress at a girls' boarding school, which is under threat from developers and in desperate need of fundraising. Lindsay's agreed to write a piece about the fundraising programme, which includes a performance from celebrated cellist Lorna Smith-Couper, one of the school's old girls. 

Of course, she's not expecting to be caught up in a murder almost as soon as she arrives at the school. Nor is she expecting to meet - and be instantly smitten by - the very attractive Cordelia Brown, another old girl who's now a successful writer...

It seems like just about everybody has a motive for murder, and when an arrest is made, Lindsay is compelled to start doing some digging.

It's dated a fair bit after fortyish years - there's a lot of smoking, and I don't think I've heard anyone say "right-on" in decades. (The modern equivalent would be "woke".) Lindsay dictates her copy over the phone. More concerningly, a portrayal of a teacher-student relationship is perhaps overly sympathetic to the teacher. (Being a closeted lesbian doesn't make it okay. Everyone here blames the girl, but no teacher should be sleeping with a pupil half her age, even if she is lonely.)

McDermid worked as a journalist in the eighties, so she certainly knows what she's talking about in that regard. It's interesting to see how Lindsay squares her own values with writing for the not-exactly-feminist tabloid press, and how she deals with having to turn off her emotions to do her job. 

A nostalgic read, groundbreaking in its way, and the girls' school setting is fun, but McDermid would go on to write better things.