“It was actually one of my colleagues suggested I put Inspector Starrett in the next Devlin book and kill him off at the end. Tempting ... so long as Paul Charles doesn’t think of it first.”Lawks! Coppers in tit-for-tat car bombs? Whatever happened to Darby O’Gill and the Little People, eh? Aye, we were hungry but happy back then …
“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.” – Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian
Friday, October 19, 2007
“Cop That!” Cop Tops Copper In Plod-Popping Plot!
Why I Write # 194: Sam Millar
Sam Millar’s Bloodstorm will be published in spring 2008.
Reasons To Be Cheerful-ish # 221: Michael Collins
Which is why it rankles with the US-based author that his eighth and most challenging novel, THE SECRET LIFE OF ROBERT E. PENDLETON, was marketed in the US as a crime novel titled DEATH OF A WRITER. “To position it that way, you run into readers who are expecting a standard murder mystery,” says Collins. Even among critics, he laments, “there was a measuring of it against how a regular crime novel would play itself out. There were numerous levels of different issues in the novel, but they were the ones least addressed.”Fair enough, sir. But really, if you’re going to devote a significant chunk of your story to a murder mystery, and reap the narrative benefits such a plot-strand offers, then it’s a little disingenuous to protest when readers tend to focus on it. Plus, in the pouting stakes, you’re more Rhett than Scarlett. We humbly suggest the stoical mean ‘n’ moody approach might be more beneficial in the long run …
Thursday, October 18, 2007
“Cheque, Mate?”
“This classy, literate thriller is about chess, psychoanalysis, Russian skulduggery, history, mystery, romance - and more,” wrote Kate Saunders in the Times, reviewing ZUGZWANG by Ronan Bennett, which features a long game of chess between the psychiatrist narrator, Dr Otto Spethmann, and RM Kopelzon, a Polish violinist. “The book includes diagrams of the Spethmann-Kopelzon game which gives it an extra dimension for chess buffs,” said Matthew J Reisz in the Independent on Sunday. “Yet one needs to know nothing of ‘mysterious rook moves’ or the Maróczy Bind to enjoy this atmospheric, ingenious and perfectly paced novel.” “Action of a more dramatic kind flows as the story reaches a crescendo of dizzying complexity,” wrote Carola Groom in the Financial Times.Hark! Is that the merry sound of tills we hear a-ching-chinging? From checkmate to cheque’s mate in six easy moves, it’s no mean feat …
“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 746: Tom Galvin
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE – brief, violent but very credible and I just love the sense of divine justice in that tale. You can empathise with the characters deeply despite their actions and you realise that when it comes to human emotions, searching for textbook ‘motives’ in crime is redundant.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
With time in such short supply I tend to choose books carefully and either decide to see them through or drop them quickly if I’m not interested. I used to read a lot of Stephen King for guilty pleasures, does he count? Apart from that I’d whiz through a copy of whatever celeb gossip magazine is on the shelf while waiting at the till, then scoff at the whole notion of celebrity.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Just getting published is enough … I think. Then you realise it’s only the start. That you then have to go out and hound everyone and everything to ensure it gets attention, on the shelf, in the papers, etc. So actually, I’m still waiting for that real moment of satisfaction.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Here’s where my ignorance of crime writing shows. I am not the most avid of crime fiction readers and have skimmed the classics. But I do intend picking up Declan Hughes’ THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD. I saw he won a prize for crime writing at a convention in Anchorage Alaska. I stayed there for one very weird night a few years ago on my way to Skagway and I just think I should read it. It’s got rave reviews.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
See above for that answer. I’m not familiar enough. Although I do recall reading Joseph O’Connor’s THE SALESMAN many years back and it read like a movie script – bang, bang, bang. Often wonder why that was never taken up. Revenge is motive that writers see through to the end in books because it’s such a strong one. O’Connor had the courage to pull back, which is what struck me at the time.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The self-pity, the selfishness. You expect people in your circle to be as besotted with your work as you are. They fail to understand that your writing is an obsession and that when you put your foot on the floor in the morning it’s the first thought that enters your head. How can they and why should they care? There is no switching off for a writer. It’s a life sentence and you’re on your own with it.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
I haven’t come to it yet as I’m still reworking two old ones. But I had been toying with a modern take on the Book of Job: a good man has it all taken from him by a God with a dark sense of humour. As he winds up on the shit-heap, he still maintains that life is good and God is great. The Fisher King had a stab at that notion but went a bid wobbly. I still think it modern society there is room for such a tale. I’d be tempted to be more of a Karamazov than a Job though.
Who are you reading right now?
Just finished A MIGHTY HEART by Marianne Pearl. It was repackaged for the European movie release and is a heart-wrenching read and something of a guilty one also. You know the outcome but are still gripped by the drama in the story. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’m not sure whether I want to witness Angelina Jolie look exasperated for 90-odd minutes. Why they couldn’t find an actress more suited to Marianne Pearl’s complexion is mind-boggling, rather than getting Jolie to don a wig and gallons of fake tan. I’m in the middle of Andrew Meir’s BLACK EARTH, about modern Russia – a brilliant read. And by the locker is Martin Amis’ HOUSE OF MEETINGS, which I’m looking forward to.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Almost getting there.
Tom Galvin’s THERE’S AN EGG IN MY SOUP is available in all good bookshops.
Sething The World Alight
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
“Roll Up, Roll Up, ’Tis The Crime Carnival!”
“The idea for this rolling blog carnival came from author and academic librarian Barbara Fister, who in mid-September suggested that a gaggle of bloggers interested in crime and mystery fiction get together and regularly post links to Web-based stories about the genre that they’ve read and enjoyed recently. At least initially, the carnival’s hosts will alternate on a fortnightly basis ... The Rap Sheet will follow up with a similar round-up posting in mid-October, and things are expected to go on from there … This seems to me like a fun opportunity to cooperate with, and get to know other bloggers who boast similar reading interests. Since Barbara Fister is trying to rope people in from around the globe, we might even learn something about just how broad and interesting the genre is these days.”The schedule for Crime Carnival can be found hereabouts, and Crime Always Pays’ bid for world domination kicks off on December 1st, which – rather frustratingly – was the day we’d pencilled in to invade Poland. Jeez - something always crops up, doesn’t it?
Booker, Danno
In what the judges said was a tight decision, Enright’s “powerful, uncomfortable and even at times angry book” saw off the competition from highly fancied works by Ian McEwan and New Zealander Lloyd Jones … Chairman of the panel of judges Howard Davies said it had been a very close decision but at the end the judges came to have enormous respect for her “emotionally-charged novel of family life” and came to “appreciate its careful structure and character development”. McEwan’s ON CHESIL BEACH and Jones’s MISTER PIP had been joint favourites to secure the €72,000 (£50,000) prize.Fabulous stuff. The last Irish Booker prize winner, John Banville in 2005, immediately turned to crime fiction, penning CHRISTINE FALLS (the follow-up, THE SILVER SWAN, is due early next month). Can we expect Enright to follow suit? Only time, that notoriously doity rat, will tell …
Nobody Move, This Is A Review: JULIUS WINSOME, by Gerard Donovan
This review was first published on Euro Crime
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 894: Ingrid Black
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Joanna Farrell, author of the classic SIMPLY CHOCOLATE – 100 TEMPTING RECIPES. Who needs literature anyway?
Most satisfying writing moment?
The last page!
The best Irish crime novel is …?
THE STATEMENT by Brian Moore.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Mine and only mine. Don’t want anybody else getting the deal!
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The two best things are starting and finishing. The worst thing is that long bit in the middle.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
Well, somebody dies ... and I think by the end you’ll know who did it. Who are you reading right now?
Martin McDonagh, THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Atmospheric. Wry. Pacy.
Ingrid Black’s THE JUDAS HEART is published on October 25
Into Every Life A Little Shadow Must Fall
SHADOWS WILL FALL by Rose Doyle [is] a contemporary story of murder, betrayal and love. Set in Dun Laoghaire, it opens with the discovery of a young woman’s body in the doorway of the morgue. Evil casts long shadows; in this case those of two earlier murders -- one in Dun Laoghaire in 1953, the other in Coney Island, New York, in 1963. Love and sex also cast their own particular shadows in this novel, hailed as Rose Doyle’s best to date. It works on many levels -- as crime story, social commentary, historical archive and love story -- and it has been lauded as a novel “that men should read and women will love”.Nice to see the Indo embracing the spirit of journalistic ecumenicism so wholeheartedly, given that Rose is a working scribe with the Irish Times. Meanwhile, Crime Always Pays continues its rather lack-lustre campaign to have the Indo feature Irish crime writers in its next series, our list of contenders (excluding novels in their first flush of publication) running thusly:
IRISH CRIME NOVELS: TOP 20If we’ve left out anyone you think should be included, feel free to lambaste us in your own good time. Don’t worry about hurting our feelings; we’ll just vent our frustrations on the elves later on …
1. Quinn by Seamus Smyth
2. The Guards by Ken Bruen
3. Dead I Well May Be by Adrian McKinty
4. The Dead by Ingrid Black
5. Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
6. The Polling of the Dead by John Kelly
7. Little Criminals by Gene Kerrigan
8. Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
9. The Guilty Heart by Julie Parsons
10. Bogmail by Patrick McGinley
11. Death the Pale Rider by Vincent Banville
12. The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
13. The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien
14. In the Forest by Edna O’Brien
15. The Colour of Blood by Brian Moore
16. Revenge by KT McCaffrey
17. The Assassin by Liam O’Flaherty
18. Resurrection Man by Eoin McNamee
19. Death Call by TS O’Rourke
20. A Carra King by John Brady
Nobody Move, This Is A Review: SECOND BURIAL by Andrew Nugent
Monday, October 15, 2007
Blame It On The Boogie
“Chandler is famously said to have had no idea what was going on in THE BIG SLEEP. EIGHTBALL BOOGIE, while of a complexity confusing to its protagonist, is never so to the reader or, I suspect, to the author. Minor characters who lend colour early play pivotal roles late. Events here make suspense-inducing sense there and, though there are surprises, all are believable. Everything, shocking as it may be, makes sense in light of ground that had been laid earlier. Burke, I suspect, mapped out his plot more carefully than Chandler did, and if I’m right, he had quite a bit of mapping to do.”Crumbs! Mentioned in the same breath as Chandler, and with nary a sign of ‘fourth-rate rip-off’ in the vicinity? Truly, our cup runneth over …
The Embiggened O # 389: Yep, It's The Inevitable ‘Dear John’ Missive
“Declan Burke’s THE BIG O is one of the sharpest, wittiest and most unusual Irish crime novels of recent years. In a genre that sometimes takes itself a little seriously - particularly in Ireland, where crime fiction is still at a relatively young stage – it’s refreshing to read a novelist who allows some of the humour that is such a distinctive part of the Irish tradition to infuse his work. That said, THE BIG O is a contemporary Irish crime novel that should have a broad international appeal. Burke seems to me to be working in a similar tradition to, say, Carl Hiaasen, in that there’s a satirical edge to his work that gives it a real bite. The foibles that he points out are universal, and are as applicable to New York and Los Angeles as they are to Dublin and London. Burke doesn’t stint on the thriller aspect of the book either, which is a difficult trick to pull off successfully. The kidnapping-gone-wrong scenario at the heart of the novel gives it a real momentum, but Burke manages to leaven it with his humour. Again, the crime genre occasionally sacrifices too much of itself at the altar of gore, but there is a real appetite among readers for crime novels that can hold their attention, entertain and thrill them, yet can do so without resorting to an excess of blood on the page. Among all of the recent crop of Irish crime novelists, it seems to me that Declan Burke is ideally poised to make the transition to a larger international stage, and it can only be a matter of time before a wise US publisher sees his potential and exploits it to the fullest.” – John Connolly, author of THE UNQUIETMr Connolly, sir? Bless your cotton socks. And if you don’t own a pair, just let us know – not only will we spring for the socks, we’ll get an archbishop to bless ’em.
The Monday Review
Sunday, October 14, 2007
If You Go Into The Woods Today …
“Tana French’s brilliantly crafted first novel embodies, in its story of a murder on an archaeological site in Ireland, a fascinating critique of human emotions, social mores, environmental issues and complex personal motivation. IN THE WOODS is an immediate, sometimes moving but always compelling reinvention of our most popular genre – the murder mystery.”It’s yet another feather in the rakishly angled French cap, which was once a suitably modish beret but is now starting to take on the proportions of Sitting Bull’s favourite ceremonial headdress. A fashion faux pas? Perhaps – but what the hell else is a gal supposed to do with those blummin’ feathers, eh?