“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, May 27, 2007

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 214: Charles Ardai

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire pick-‘n’-mix Q&A for those
shifty-looking usual suspects ...
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
The Big Sleep.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Dan Brown.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Appending the words ‘The End’ to the final page of a book I’ve worked on for years.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
I can’t pretend an exhaustive enough knowledge of the contenders to make this determination – but it wouldn’t surprise me if the right answer was a book with the words “by Ken Bruen” on its spine.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
The Guards, Ken Bruen.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst: Rarely possible to make a living at it, even if you’re good. Best: If you do it right, a little piece of you will live forever.
Why does John Banville use a pseudonym for writing crime?
Damned if I know. I only know why I do: because I'm a sucker for clever anagrams.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Sorrowful, disillusioned, bleak.

Charles Ardai is an Edgar-winning writer and co-publisher of Hard Case Crime
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