“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

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

And The Winner Is … Irish Crime Fiction!

The short-lists for the various categories in the Irish Book Awards have been announced, and there are five – count ’em – Irish crime writers up for a gong. And that’s not five crime writers in the Best Crime Novel category, because the IBA doesn’t do anything so gauche as a dedicated crime fiction award. No indeed. Instead they spread the crime writers over a variety of categories – Eoin Colfer, John Boyne, John Connolly, Benjamin Black and Patrick McCabe were nominated across the board last year. This year’s nominees? A trumpet-parp, please, maestro, for Ronan Bennett (ZUGZWANG), Benjamin Black, twice (THE SILVER SWAN), Eoin Colfer (right) (THE LEGEND OF THE WORST BOY IN THE WORLD), Derek Landy (SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT) and Tana French (IN THE WOODS). The winners will be announced at the Gala Awards Dinner in Dublin’s Mansion House Round Room on April 24, by which time the Grand Vizier is hoping that barring order Tana French has against him will be lifted for the evening.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cryptic last comment! I vote for Tana F -- as that is the only one of these I've read -- but it is a jolly good book so good luck to her from me.

Declan Burke said...

Maxine - I'm hoping for pistols at dawn between Eoin Colfer and Derek Landy ... Or maybe they should get Artemis Fowl and Skulduggery Pleasant head-to-head in a cage? I'd pay to see that. Not a lot, but I'd pay. Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

Chalk my vote up for Tana as well. Her writing really impressed me.

In the Forest, In the Woods, In Bruges, Irish Crime sure is the "In" thing at the moment.

Inna Gadda Da Vida,

Mick