“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

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The Weekly Yearly Round-Up

Yon Derek Landy is having a particularly good week. First came the gong at the Richard and Judy Kids’ Books bunfight, then the all-important review on Crime Always Pays (see below), and now SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT has fetched up on the Publisher’s Weekly Books of the Year, which comes to us via Becky’s Book Reviews. Also on the list is the late, lamented Siobhan Dowd for A SWIFT PURE CRY (right) – a poignant reminder of her wonderful talent, especially as there is a memorial service for Siobhan being held in Oxford today. No Irish crime writer made it onto the PW ‘Mystery’ list, although kudos to a long-time friend of Crime Always Pays, Richard Aleas, aka Charles Ardai of Hard Case Crime, who did with SONGS OF INNOCENCE. One other point of note: James Lee Burke’s THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN got the PW big-up, but in the more literary ‘fiction’ list, rather than the ‘mystery’ list. A sign of things to come in terms of crime fiction being absorbed into the mainstream, or simply a reflection of Burke’s inimitable way with a quill? YOU decide!

No comments: