“The obsession with geography which inevitably grips any crime writer who claims a city as their own and tries to stamp their own personality on it is not mere self-indulgence or authorly vanity, though. It’s an essential counterpart to what the killer, that invisible and unknown protagonist who haunts the pages of every crime novel – the ghost in the machine of the narrative, as it were – does too. The only person who knows the city as well as the detective is the perpetrator. They match their knowledge of the city one against another. Killers have an intimate and profound relationship with landscape. Think of Jack the Ripper, the Moors Murderers, the Green River Killer, or Moscow’s so-called “Chessboard Killer” who lured all his 50-plus victims to Bitsevsky Park in the city after dark. What strange synchronicity must they all have felt to those dangerous places? Mapping the connections between an offender and the space through which he moves and in which he operates is the ultimate aim of geographical profiling, which, whilst lesser known than the psychological profiling made famous in such films as Silence Of The Lambs, is increasingly being used by police to identify possible suspects.”So – the Big Question: which fictional killer do you – yes, YOU! – most closely associate with his or her killing ground?
“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 26, 2007
The Geography Of Murder
But Lo! What Fresh Skulduggery Is This?
Why I Write # 276: Eoin Colfer
“Of course, the money is nice too ...”
Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY is available in all good bookshops.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
“Why The Hell Have We Been Ignoring …” # 213: Walter Keady
“The young people of Coshlawn Crann in rural Ireland simply aren’t marrying and properly propagating in the hardscrabble post-war 1946. It’s all about the economy, and Father Donovan isn’t above using the power of his collar to lean on two locals who can get something done: rich skinflint farmer Tom McDermott and publican Austin Glynn (some of whose wealth comes from bank robberies long ago in the Bronx). Tom’s older son, Martin, the town Lothario, soon finds himself engaged to Austin’s daughter, Aideen, a good-hearted girl with a face ‘like the back of a bus.’ Biking home from popping the question, Martin runs into Barney Murphy’s donkey on the bridge, tumbles into the river and is believed drowned. He quickly decides to stay dead and slips off to London — where he soon wearies of actually having to work and starts dreaming about Aideen’s dowry. Ex-priest Keady (THE ALTRUIST) writes with authority about matters of the church. He’s also a sharp plotter, and his characters shine: from Brideen Conway, the comely schoolteacher Father Donovan loves a little too much, to strap-happy schoolmaster Alphonsus Finnerty, who secretly writes romances as ‘Laura Devon.’ The multiple happy endings may be inevitable, but they’re earned.”Mmmm, lovely. But lo! There’s more! Booklist chips in with “A vivid, easy-reading period piece,” while Mr and Mrs Kirkus reckon that “[T]his winning effort from former priest Keady ... can be forgiven its clichés. Charming Celtic comedy of manners.” Hurrah! But there’s more! “Keady’s folksy, conspiratorial tone is truly irresistible,” proclaimed the Washington Post, while the Library Journal believes that “Keady is a refreshing new voice in Irish fiction.” Crikey! It’s a cozy Celtic crime frenzy, people …
Et Tu, Brute
MT: Your character Julius lives in cabin in the Maine woods with only his dog for company: is that an existence that part of you envies?We’re thinking Vin Diesel for the movie. Any other suggestions?
GD: “I do lead an existence similar to the lead character’s, on a farm in the woods with a dog and books, though not nearly as many. What interests me thematically in the novel is what kind of moral compass we have as humans, or more directly, what kind of moral compass I have. What would people really do if a beloved dog or indeed companion of any kind were shot and they could exact revenge without legal consequences? This is a question that haunts me. The answer is that I don’t have a moral compass aside from the basic agreements regarding normal behaviour I hold with other humans, but, as I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t quite trust fiction that showcases characters who in the end demonstrate what good people they are. Where is the border between grief and revenge? And who stops at that border, and who continues beyond? Julius Winsome continues, using increasingly archaic English as the violence continues. I envy him that, I envy his ability to pursue, I envy his complete preparation to bring violence ruthlessly to those who have practiced it themselves.”
“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 679: Maxim Jakubowski
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
DARK RIDE by Kent Harrington. It combines the right amount of noir thrills and erotic tension I seek in my own books.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Most French contemporary erotica written by women. Such a strong area of writing right now.
Most satisfying writing moment?
The moment a new novel or even a short story reaches the top of the hill and the downpart of the writing almost happens of its own accord.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series (once it’s collected into a single volume, of course; sorry, I cheated ...).
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Any of the Connolly Charlie Parker books, as long as they get both the right screenwriter and director.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst is constant knowledge of my own imperfections and laziness holding me back. Best is that sense of achievement when it’s on the printed page (and the inner glow when I get fan letters from Italian female readers who’ve felt deeply affected by my writing – it’s happened three times and all Italian!!!).
The pitch for your next novel is …?
Cornell Woolrich meets THE STORY OF O meets LOLITA meets anyone else along that road to nowhere.
Who are you reading right now?
Have just started Mo Hayder’s next book, RITUAL.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Romantically personal, noir, erotic. Oops, that's 4 words.
PARIS NOIR, edited by His Eminence Maxim Jabukowski, is published on November 1.
The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books
Is Ingrid Black …?If you think you know the answer, drop us a mail at dbrodb(at)gmail.com, putting ‘Neither, you moron’ in the subject line, before noon on Monday 29. Bon chance, mes amis …
(a) Benjamin Black’s daughter;
(b) Benjamin Black’s mother;
(c) Neither, you moron, they’re both pseudonyms.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Embiggened O # 962: Laugh? We Almost Emigrated
“THE BIG O is a fast-paced and very funny book … I don’t often laugh out loud when reading, but I found this book hilarious … Comedy capers are hard to pull off. Most of them spiral out of control or lose their freshness after a few chapters. That isn’t the case here: Burke effortlessly ratchets up the tension, rings the changes of the perceptions of reality between the characters, provides an element of farce, a few choice set-pieces, some neat observations of domestic minutiae, and keeps the laughs coming.”All of which is entirely lovely, although if we’re honest we’ll point out at this stage that we were actually aiming to write a bleak tale of perversely life-affirming existential deprivation, a la Sam Beckett. Ah well, maybe we’ll get it right next time …
Paul Charles: Number 2 With A Bullet!
Surprisingly, Charles is never sure when he begins a book how it is going to turn out. “That’s part of the buzz for me. Finding out what happens. If I knew whodunnit beforehand I don’t think I would write them at all. It’s more exciting not to know. My method is to ‘find’ the body along with my detective and then go off on his journey with him to work out what happened. I go into his life, just like the reader, and meet all the people he meets and draw conclusions, some erroneous at the start, from those meetings. To be honest, I can’t actually remember writing the first line, or starting the book. It’s a kind of organic process. I mull the idea over for a while and then it comes.”Marvellous. Heading off at something of a tangent takes us from the sublime to the ridiculous via the American Billboard chart, Verbal then tosses in a lovely piece of trivia.
During the early 1970s Charles was manager, lyricist, roadie, sound-engineer and agent for the Belfast band Fruupp, who were signed to Dawn Records and worked around the UK for several years. Sheba’s Song, one of Charles’s songs from that period (co-written with band member John Mason) has just been sampled and covered by America Rap artist Talib Kweli with Nora Jones guesting on vocals. Eardrum, the album which the song appears on, went to number 2 in America’s Billboard chart this month.Paul Charles, eh? He’s a little bit rock, a little bit roll, a little bit rap-sample champ. It’ll take a nation of millions to hold him back now …
The Life Of Brian II: This Time It’s Personal
“Hi all – Just thought I should introduce myself: I’m Brian McGilloway and my first novel, BORDERLANDS, was published by MNW in April this year. The follow-up, GALLOWS LANE, will be published on April 4th 2008 alongside the Pan paperback of BORDERLANDS. I’m currently writing the third Inspector Devlin novel, BLEED A RIVER DEEP, which I suspect will feature prominently in future posts on writing and the drafting process.Go on – scoot over there and leave a comment. It can get lonely out here in the deepest, darkest blogosphere …
The Devlin books are being given a series look for the launch in April and now seems as good a time as any to unveil the first of the new covers – this one for the pb edition of BORDERLANDS. Hope you like it ...
And, in between times, Inspector Devlin makes an appearance in a new short story called The Lost Child, which will be broadcast on Friday 2nd November at 3.30pm on BBC Radio 4.”
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 694: Mia Gallagher
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
THE LONG GOODBYE by Raymond Chandler.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
John Connolly, John Grisham, Jonathan Kellerman, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, Minette Walters, The Preacher graphic novels, any graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, Robert Jordan (fantasy), Marian Keyes.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Reaching the end of a chapter when it’s finally right.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Tough question, there are so many good ones. I recently read Declan Hughes’ THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD and loved it. Very Ed McBain. Claire Kilroy’s TENDERWIRE is also brilliant; not strictly genre crime, but a wonderful tale of suspense and loss. And Cormac Millar’s AN IRISH SOLUTION featured a bad boy villain who I fell completely in love with.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
I'd love to see Declan Hughes’ psychopath Podge in the flesh. The Irish actor Owen Roe would play him really well if he squeaked up his voice. If Hollywood did it they could cast Joe Pesci.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Not being able to write / writing.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
Still working on it. Something about war, guilt, shame and families.
Who are you reading right now?
A sci-fi writer called Stephen Baxter. His book EVOLUTION is a fictional journey through major evolutionary periods in the earth’s history. Incredible and surprisingly readable. Like a mixture of Meercat Manor and The Sopranos.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Playful. Visceral. Edgy.
Mia Gallagher’s HELLFIRE is available in all good bookshops.
Quote Of The Day # 367: Gabriel Zaid
“If not a single book were published from this moment on, it would still take 250,000 years for us to acquaint ourselves with those books already written.” Gabriel Zaid, SO MANY BOOKSCrikey! 250,000 years? And there we were thinking we could afford to lay off one of the Sherpa-elves currently helping us ascend to the summit of our tottering TBR pile. Guess the Sherpa-elves are back on double-time …
A Burrening Passion
In the sixteenth century, as it is now, the Burren, on the western seaboard of Ireland, was a land of grey stone forts, fields of rich green grass and swirling mountain terraces. It was also home to an independent kingdom that lived peacefully by the ancient Brehon laws of their forebears. On the first eve of May, 1509, hundreds of people from the Burren climbed the gouged-out limestone terraces of Mullaghmore Mountain to celebrate the great May Day festival, lighting a bonfire and singing and dancing through the night, then returning through the grey dawn to the safety of their homes. But one man did not come back down the steeply spiralling path. His body lay exposed to the ravens and wolves on the bare, lonely mountain for two nights ... and no one spoke of him, or told what they had seen. And when Mara, a woman appointed by King Turlough Don O’Brien to be judge and lawgiver to the stony kingdom, came to investigate, she was met with a wall of silence ...Erm, maybe it’s just us, but practically every Irish woman we’ve ever met has been a ‘judge and lawgiver’. Or is it just us? Answers on the back of used €20 notes to the usual address …
Monday, October 22, 2007
The Embiggened O # 1,012: “Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ / Keep Those Logs A-Rollin’ …”
“Declan Burke’s crime writing is fast, furious and funny, but this is more than just genre fiction: Burke is a high satirist in the tradition of Waugh and Kingsley Amis and his stories pulse with all the contradictions of contemporary Ireland. Burke has a deep respect for and understanding of the classic traditions of the hardboiled school but he never forgets that his first duty is to give us a damn good read. A must for fans of Ken Bruen, Michael Connolly and Eoin McNamee.” – Adrian McKinty, author of THE BLOOMSDAY DEADAdrian? Ta very much, sir. And while you’re there, there’s an itch just between my shoulder blades I can’t quite reach. Any chance you’d give my back another scratch? Cheers.