“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

Sunday, September 20, 2009

CRIME ALWAYS PAYS: Day Zero

It’s a Red Letter day, folks. This time last year, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published THE BIG O in North America. A humble offering that started life as a co-published novel, with the small but perfectly formed Hag’s Head Press, THE BIG O sank like the proverbial granite submarine, although it did garner one or two decent blurbs and reviews in the process. To wit:
“Imagine Donald Westlake and his alter ego Richard Stark moving to Ireland and collaborating on a screwball noir, and you have some idea of Burke’s accomplishment.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Declan Burke’s THE BIG O is one of the sharpest, wittiest and most unusual Irish crime novels of recent years … 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.” – John Connolly

“Burke has married hard-boiled crime with noir sensibility and seasoned it with humour and crackling dialogue … fans of comic noir will find plenty to enjoy here.” – Booklist

“Burke’s the latest – and one of the best – bad-boy Irish writers to hit our shores … the dialogue is nothing short of electric. This caper is so stylish, so hilarious, that it could have been written by the love-child of Elmore Leonard and Oscar Wilde.” – Killer Books

“THE BIG O is a big ol’ success, a tale fuelled by the mischievous spirits of Donald E. Westlake, Elmore Leonard and even Carl Hiassen … THE BIG O kept me reading at speed – and laughing the whole damn time.” – J. Kingston Pierce, January Magazine, ‘Best Books 2007 - Crime Fiction’

“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 . . . but he never forgets that his first duty is to give us a damn good read.”—Adrian McKinty

“Carries on the tradition of Irish noir with its Elmore Leonard-like style ... the dialogue is as slick as an ice run, the plot is nicely intricate, and the character drawing is spot on … a high-octane novel that fairly coruscates with tension.” – The Irish Times

“With a deft touch, Burke pulls together a cross-genre plot that’s part hard-boiled caper, part thriller, part classic noir, and flat out fun. From first page to last, THE BIG O grabs hold and won’t let go.” – Reed Farrel Coleman

“The writing is a joy, so seamless you nearly miss the sheer artistry of the style and the terrific wry humour.” – Ken Bruen
  CRIME ALWAYS PAYS is the sequel to THE BIG O, and it’s being published to Kindle at some point today, September 21st, or so I’m reliably informed. Technically speaking, then, today marks the publication of my third novel, after EIGHTBALL BOOGIE and THE BIG O, which is where the Red Letter bit comes in. Because it’s not every day you publish your third novel, even if it is to a fairly limited audience on Kindle …
  Anyway, you very probably don’t own a Kindle, but if you know someone who does, let them know – CRIME ALWAYS PAYS will be retailing for something less than two dollars, at which rates I can positively offer a cast-iron guarantee of a bang for their buck (or, with two ‘bangs’ on page 74 alone, a bang per buck, at least).
  For a brief taster, clickety-click here
  By the way – if you don’t own a Kindle, and don’t know anyone who does, feel free to join in the general revelry anyway, by leaving a comment or tweeting it or sending good vibes through the ether. Or, y’know, don’t.
  Today, it’s all good.

22 comments:

Corey Wilde said...

Congratulations! You make me want to buy a Kindle, and no one has ever done that to me.

critical mick said...

Congrats, amigo! Kindle publishing definitely counts.

An amazon search shows it's not available for sale yet, but I will check back later.

All the best!!!

Donna said...

Congratualtions Dec - what a thrill and may it do brilliantly well (which it should, if there is any justice in the world).

Anonymous said...

Do I hear any bids for my pirated A4 copy?

Alan Griffiths said...

Congratulations Dec – hope CAP is a roaring success on Kindle. Cheers.

Unknown said...

Dec,

Do you know if Crime Always Pays will be available on kindle for iPhone? If so, I'm all over it!

Anonymous said...

From California:

I own a Kindle so I'm going to power up and order a book. Eat your hearts out non Kindlers.

Uriah Robinson said...

Dec you are at the cutting edge of technology with kindle. I will have to look into a purchase.
Best of luck with Crime Always Pays.

Dana King said...

Congratulations and good luck. As one of the lucky few to have received an advance peek at CAP, I can (and have) wholeheartedly attest it's not just worth the money, but the investment in time to read it.

seana graham said...

I can see why anonymous might want to remain anonymous in this crowd. No, seriously, I hope he or she will post back about the whole experience.

Good luck with this!

Gerard Brennan said...

Happy days, Mr B. All the best of luck with sales and whatnot. If I ever get a Kindle, this'll be my first purchase.

Cheers

gb

Unknown said...

Hope you enjoy and savour your RLD. Sending good vibes cos I don't own a kindle.

Claire said...

Congrats! Sending lots of good vibes your way.
Claire

John McFetridge said...

Congratulations.

Keep 'em coming.

Declan Burke said...

All the kind words are deeply appreciated folks ... really. Apparently there's a bit of a hitch with getting the book running on Kindle, but it should be available in the next couple of days. We'll see how it goes ...

Cheers, Dec

seana graham said...

Ain't it always the way?

That pirated copy is sounding pretty good right about now, bookwitch.

Anonymous said...

$50 sound about OK, Seana? For that I'd send a small gift to Lily.

Declan Burke said...

Seana - Given that you're not a Kindler, and that you are a bookseller, if you fancy reading a Word doc., just drop me an email ...

Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

You're so kind to non-Kindlers! There go my $50...

(I wouldn't have, really.)

seana graham said...

I can read a word. doc, and thanks for the offer, but aren't you going to be doing a Lulu or Lulu type book of this at some point? Because I'd happily buy one.

Also, is the Kindle deal an exclusive, or are you going to make it available in other ebook formats. Because I know the indies are rather belatedly getting their foot in the door in that world, and it would be fun to be able to sell it that way.

Cavalieresq said...

CRIME ALWAYS PAYS is now up and available for download to Kindle on Amazon.com. $1.25 is a steal. Looking forward to this one Dec.

Jon

Mack said...

I happen to be in Wales this moment but through the miracle of the Internet I just purchased a copy and will transfer it to my Kindle. Looking forward to reading it soon.