Praise for A Bad, Bad Place
“A Bad, Bad Place is a great, great book—my favorite kind, in fact: the kind that illuminates the dark of the past by laying a bonfire of a story at its heart. Frances Crawford, the preternaturally gifted author of this magical new novel, works bright magic here; very rarely have I felt so transported by a story, or so enmeshed in a community of characters, bound by love and fear and language. Part To Kill a Mockingbird, part The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, part Louise Welsh, yet altogether incomparable.”
—A. J. Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
“A moving evocation of working-class lives. It’s clever, honest, heart-rending, and funny too. It doesn’t shy away from the darkness but it also reveals the love and compassion that sustain people. And it’s wonderfully twisty too, giving our assumptions a good shake-up.”
―Val McDermid, internationally #1 bestselling author of Past Lying
“The very best writing can transport you through time and place—well, A Bad, Bad Place took me to Glasgow, to 1979 and to a young girl who discovers a brutal murder, the repercussions of which resound across a troubled community. It’s hard to believe this richly authentic, funny, moving, and insightful story, beautifully written in local dialect, is actually a debut. Bravo, Frances Crawford!”
―Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal
“Gripping, gruesome, and so gritty you can smell it. A visceral and exciting debut.”
—Belinda Bauer, author of Blacklands
“Haunting . . . Crawford shrewdly toggles between Janey’s viewpoint and her grandmother’s as the hunt for the killer slowly unfolds, capturing the fading innocence of a young girl and the complex social dynamics of a struggling but close-knit community. This marks the arrival of a promising new voice.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Love and Janey’s innocence and smarts make this a novel to remember . . . A gem.”
—First Clue Reviews
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