A Bad, Bad, Place.

by Frances Crawford

A Good, Good Book.

It has been a good year for reading through my TBR pile.* I have particularly enjoyed Frankly, Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir, and, in fiction, I was captivated by Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth, a book recommended by Sturgeon during Covid, The Girls by Lori Lansens, first published in 2006 in UK – shows how long my TBR has been growing! and Saoirse, a book group choice. I may have been the only member to enjoy it but I certainly did.

On a recentish trip to visit Baby Bomber and her family I was lucky enough to spend time browsing The Main Street Trading Company bookstore in St Boswell’s in the Scottish borders. A fabulous wee bookshop with impressively curated book shelves. I treated myself to two hardbacks – How to Kill a Witch by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi, whom I had seen being interviewed at Granite Noir, and A Bad, Bad, Place by Frances Crawford. On a wee side note, the bookseller noted that the paperback of How to Kill a Witch was due out in a few days time and would I prefer to wait for that. I didn’t but it was refreshing to be offered the option.

I haven’t read How to Kill a Witch yet, although I am really enjoying Claire and Zoe’s podcast, The Witches of Scotland, and will hopefully immerse myself in it soon, but I read A Bad, Bad, Place last week. What a treat! I did not grow up in Glasgow but the sense of voice and place emerge as very authentic and it was really striking how Glasgow, and the rest of Scotland, has changed since 1979. Janey, as a 12 year old girl has a childhood innocence and naivity that may be hard to find in 2026 and is refreshing in itself. The background of poverty, criminalty and community are equally well drawn and belivable. Hard to think it was such a short time ago.

A Bad, Bad, Place centres around Janey finding a murdered young woman and her grandmother’s attempts to protect her from the trauma she suffers as a result. Nevertheless there is a lot of humour to be found too. There is a particulaly Glaswegian way of describing things that made me laugh out loud at times. For example, ‘Before all this, the only time I encountered big lies was Tottie-Heid’s version of himself, and Tricia McNulty’s version of dominoes.‘ Maggie, Janey’s grandmother, only ever refers to her boss as Tottie-Heid (Tiny head) which in itself draws a vivid picture for the reader of the odious character.

A horrible crime is central to the story but this is not a crime story. Rather it is about friendship, grief, caring and community even when some members of the community are less than desirable characters. I loved Janey and Maggie and I am very impressed this was Frances Crawford’s debut novel. I can’t wait for more from her!

*My TBR pile is not a small one. There are probably a couple of hundred books awaiting my attention and some have been there for several years.