Rizzio

'Guaranteed to keep you invested by incorporating fact, myth and legend' * The Radio Times * 'This series has already produced two works of note and distinction. It raises the question if a country cannot re-tell its history, will it be stuck forever in aspic and condemned to be nothing more than a shortbread tin illustration? Hex and Rizzio are showing the way towards a reckoning, and about time too' -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday * 'Denise Mina is a name to be taken very seriously when it comes to crime fiction. . Mary is a heroine tailor-made for [her] expert literary investigation' * New York Times, Best Historical Novels of 2021 * 'May be Britain's finest living crime novelist' * Daily Telegraph * 'contains more suspense and action than many a doorstopper of a historical thriller ... Written in a style allowing access to multiple characters thoughts, rich with cinema-sharp imagery, "Rizzio" is a tour de force work of art' * The Wall Street Journal, Best Books of the Year 2021 * '[Rizzio] is retold in Minas characteristically compelling style which brings the intrigue and machinations of a key moment in Scottish history vibrantly to life' * Waterstones Best Books of 2021: Crime and Thriller * 'a writer of huge skill and inventiveness who blends tense, well-crafted crime fiction with social conscience and historical weight' * The Bookseller * 'Bestseller Mina vividly recreates a gruesome episode from the Tudor era in this searing novella set mostly over the course of a single day, Mar. 9, 1566. Mina interjects well-wrought characterizations; this superior historical thriller reads like a real-life episode of Game of Thrones' * Publishers Weekly (starred) * 'This is an edgy, provocative and thrilling classic in the making' * Scottish Books International * 'it's apt that Mina should embrace the short form novella, encapsulating the darkness and drama yet somehow managing to keep it light and at times funny' -- Janet Christie * The Scotsman Magazine * 'it is refreshing to be presented with a very readable, if embellished, account of Rizzio's murder and some of its implications for Scotland' -- Graham Drew * Press and Journal, Book of the Week * 'Denise Mina applies a true crime lens to revisit 24 hours that transformed the monarchy and its absolutely riveting' -- Sam Baker * Noon.org.uk * 'Riveting ... darkly clever' * Popsugar * 'Stabby and pithy ... an intriguing sketch in blood' * Guardian, Book of the Day * 'an electric and utterly absorbing battle of wills' -- Roger Cox * The Scotsman * 'An omniscient narrative voice, which delivers historical exposition in quick ironic bursts...Minas vivid style and the swift-moving plot are a pleasure. More historical fiction, please Ms Mina' -- Antonia Senior * The Times, Best New Historical Fiction * 'This riveting novella retells the intrigue behind [Rizzio's] death' * i Paper * 'I gobbled up Denise Minas short and immersive Rizzio a fictionalised account of the murder of Mary Queen of Scotss private secretary in 16th-century Holyrood as an audiobook on a single long car journey' -- Cal Flyn * The Times * 'In Rizzio she has created a plus-sized novella with the passion of an opera, a tour de force of imaginative reconstruction' * Wall Street Journal Europe * 'The tragic episode is retold in Minas characteristically compelling style, which brings the intrigue and machinations of a key moment in Scottish history to life' * Daily Record * 'I had an absolute thrill-ride reading your book ... what you manage to do with this is quite dazzling you manage to present a feminist, female perspective on her [Mary Queen of Scots] dilmena and her intelligence and a couple of the other women there tooabsolut

Denise Mina was born in East Kilbride in 1966. Her first book, Garnethill, won the CWA Dagger for Best First Crime Novel. She has won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice, and the MacIlvanney Prize twice. She is a presenter of TV and radio programmes, and appears regularly in the media.