“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!

Pay attention, folks, this could get confusing. Okay, so Brian McGilloway’s BORDERLANDS, featuring Inspector Devlin of the Gardai, is set in north Donegal, around the town of Lifford. And Paul Charles’ THE DUST OF DEATH, the first of a new series starring Inspector Starrett, is set in Ramelton, not much more than a good kick in the arse – as they say in Donegal – from Lifford. With us so far? Good. Now, THE DUST OF DEATH opens with a crucifixion, an unusual enough happening in Donegal, or so you might think – except GALLOW’S LANE, the second in McGilloway’s Inspector Devlin series, also kicks off with a crucifixion. Things get a bit complicated from here on in, though: GALLOW’S LANE finishes up with a metaphorical and literal bang when a car-bomb explodes outside the Garda station in Ramelton, the conflagration taking out the, erm, new Garda Inspector. Hey, you think McGilloway is trying to tell Paul Charles something? Quoth Brian:
“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 …

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