Mina, Denise

Denise Mina is a Scottish lawyer and author of crime novels. She was born in East Kilbride, Glasgow. Her father was an oil engineer who worked on platforms in the North Sea, which meant that the family often moved homes – they moved 21 times in 18 years. Mina grew up in Paris, The Hague, Bergen, London, Perth and Invergordon, but she spent most of her school holidays with her mother’s relatives in Glasgow. This affected her education, and Mina has described her teenage years as a rebellious period. She dropped out of school when she was sixteen and did various odd jobs: cook, bar maid, caring for the elderly, mainly in London. She subsequently attended evening courses in order to qualify for university.