Quite Ugly One Morning: Amazon.ca: Christoph Brookmyre: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In Christopher Brookmyre's wild and wildly funny debut crime novel, Quite Ugly One Morning, which won Britain's First Blood Award, journalist and hedonist Jack Parlabane ("different day... same hangover") investigates the murder of a young, well-to-do citizen of Edinburgh. Crooked cops, guns-for-hire and cheating spouses complicate matters as does Jack's growing affection for the dead man's wife.

From AudioFile

Contemporary Edinburgh and Glasgow are featured in this graphic thriller. Journalist Jack Parlabane discovers a most dramatically murdered Jeremy Ponsonby, son of a local medical clan. Author Brookmyre spices his writing with wit, irony, and Scots expressions. Narrator Kenny Blyth's melodious voice is perfect for everything the plot throws at him, including feisty women, local dialect, and villains at various points on the food chain. Although this is not for everyone, those who like grit, wit, and foul language will love Blyth reading Brookmyre. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Genuinely Enjoyable, Jan 26 2007

By	Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Quite Ugly One Morning (Paperback)

Christopher Brookmyre was born in Glasgow in 1968 and has worked in Edinburgh, London and LA as a journalist. "Quite Ugly One Morning", his debut novel, was first published in the UK in 1996 and won the inaugural "First Blood" award for the best first crime novel of the year.

Jack Parlabane, the book's hero, is a journalist whose career started in Glasgow. He was eventually headhunted by one of London's broadsheets, before realising his brand of investigative journalism was steering him towards serious trouble. He quickly fled to LA - where he made exactly the same mistake again (only, this time with the rather higher chance of getting killed). As the book opens, he's only been back in Edinburgh for around thirty-six hours. (While Brookmyre's travels have been very similar to Parlabane's, I have no idea how much trouble the author's career as a journalist brought him. However, I am assured that all characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental). Unfortunately, unknown to Parlabane, one of his new neighbours - later identified as Jeremy Ponsonby - has been murdered. Ponsonby was a doctor, and a member of a well-known Edinburgh medical family. The book opens with the arrival of Inspector McGregor at the exceptionally messy and slightly bizarre murder scene. Parlabane is later caught at he scene with his trousers down (quite literally) by DC Jenny Dalziel, one of McGregor's team. Gradually, after a few more chance meetings with Dalziel and Sarah - the corpse's ex-wife - Parlabane starts looking into the murder.

While there are some fairly disgusting scenes - particularly the opening - Brookmyre has written a fast-moving, funny and thoroughly enjoyable book. I was reminded, in parts, of Ian Banks and Kinky Friedman (although there aren't quite as many one-liners as your average Kinky book). There are a few Scottish words and phrases used here and there - "jobbie" and "keech", for example, are used in the first chapter. However, with the way Brookmyre has written, there shouldn't be any difficulty in working out exactly what he's referring to. Highly recommended !

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5.0 out of 5 stars Ugly is also in the eye of the beholder, Mar 3 2002

By	JRob (IL USA) - See all my reviews

...I wandered into a bookshop and found this gem. This is one old-style hard-boiled crime novels with REALLY UGLY bad guys and an almost suprehero good guy - in this case a hard case Scottish journalist who has seen and done it all. He practically trips over the throat slashing victim and considers the murder a "creative masterpiece". Think Phillip Marlowe, but in black jeans. Things get messier and messier. Not quite a quick read (214 pages), but if you like this sort of thing when feeding your own escapist tendencies, I think you'll join me in eagerly awaiting more from Chritopher Brookmyre.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to get excited about., Jan 20 2002

By	Stuart Hall (Paisley, UK) - See all my reviews

This book came highly recommended, but left me disappointed. Similar crude style as Irvine Welsh, but lacked depth in the story. Mildly entertaining and good fun I suppose, but nothing to get excited about.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ...
Investigative reporter, Jack Parlabane, is having a bad day as he attends the discovery of the mutilated corpse of a prominent doctor. Then his day gets worse. Read more

Published on Jul 25 2001 by F. G. Hamer

5.0 out of 5 stars what a legend!!
yes, i bought this book cold on a one lazy (but not ugly) sunday morning ... and what a wonderful discovery i made. Read more

Published on Jan 22 2001 by Steven I. Perry

5.0 out of 5 stars The best in British fiction
Quite Ugly One Morning opens with quite possibly one of the funniest chapters ever written. This one is not for the faint hearted. Read more

Published on Sep 24 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Geordie meets Glaswegian
Great tale of the underhanded financial coup of a wannabe Portillo (Aaargh), foiled by the collaboration of a pesky non standard threesome compiling lesbian cop,... Read more

Published on Sep 1 2000 by rita