
The Good Liar
Denise Mina(Author)
Vintage (Publisher)
Published on 26. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-5299-3178-5 (ISBN)
Description
** FROM THE NY TIMES and Costa shortlisted author, comes a NEW standalone thriller**
The truth can set you free. Or destroy your life
When blood spatter expert Claudia O'Shiel finds herself on stage to talk about the most famous criminal case in recent history, she has a choice to make: explain how her evidence put away the man responsible for the brutal double murder? Or tell them the truth - that the real killer is still out there, and if she tries to expose this conspiracy, it won't just be her life on the line.
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
The truth can set you free. Or destroy your life
When blood spatter expert Claudia O'Shiel finds herself on stage to talk about the most famous criminal case in recent history, she has a choice to make: explain how her evidence put away the man responsible for the brutal double murder? Or tell them the truth - that the real killer is still out there, and if she tries to expose this conspiracy, it won't just be her life on the line.
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
Reviews / Votes
[A] compelling and suspenseful study of complicity... a stand-out read * Guardian * Intelligent as ever, Mina judiciously orchestrates suspense and anatomises issues of class - and even the nature of truth -- Financial Times The UK's finest living writer of crime ... No one gets under the skin of characters quite the way Mina does. She's sublime, and this book is too -- Abir Mukherjee * The Times * A characteristically thoughtful and complex thriller from Mina * Mail on Sunday * 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 A tightly wound thriller and a sharp portrait of the British upper class...Like most of Mina's protagonists, Claudia is complex and convincing...Money, corporate corruption, personal revenge: Each murder motive is revealed with impeccable timing. * Wall Street Journal * Part of what makes Mina such an interesting writer is that the science is a background to the moral and ethical questions she is posing ... taut ... the topics she chooses are serious and urgent' -- Scotsman 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 Denise Mina sets the gold standard in crime fiction that is whip-smart, funny and insightful. This has it all: a cat and mouse game with the highest stakes, diabolically clever forensics, and characters that crackle from the page. Blisteringly good. -- Sarah Hilary, author of the Marnie Rome series This is Denise Mina at her blazing, blood-splattered best. Protagonist Doctor Claudia is the bee's knees, and you can tell Mina's having a blast in her company. You will too -- Lucy WorsleyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
195 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-3178-5 (9781529931785)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Denise Mina
The Good Liar
The gripping edge-of-your-seat thriller from 'Britain's best living crime writer' (Sunday Express)
E-Book
07/2025
Vintage Digital
€8.99
Available for download

Person
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.