“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, July 22, 2007

A Starrett Is Born

Said we, being snappers of the whipper variety: ‘Paul Charles, sir? How does it feel to start a whole new series in Donegal with some jumped-up Inspector Starrett-come-lately when you’ve been writing about DI Christy Kennedy in Camden Town all these years?’ Erm, believe it or not, he actually took the time to answer. Quoth Paul:
“It was great fun to write a Starrett story set in Donegal. I love the county and spend a lot of time there. I’ve used the character Inspector Starrett before in a Kennedy book, I’ve Heard The Banshee Sing, and in a short story, In The Midnight Hour, which was included in the Meeting Across The Water anthology. So he was there in the back of my mind screaming for more attention, if you know what I mean. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I lived with the character for a long time as opposed to sitting down in front of a blank screen waiting for magic. But the short answer to your question would be, “Great.””
And the short answer to the question ‘What the ruddy hell’s the novel called, then?’ is The Dust of Death. Ooooh, spooky, no?

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