“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, May 2, 2008

French Kissing In The USA*

So there we were at 6.30am trying to make a funny out of the Edgars and THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE and the fact that Tana French’s (right) second name is, well, you follow our drift, when we realised that trying to make funnies before the first bucket of coffee goes down the hatch may well cause our collective spinal cords to leap up and strangle what’s left of our pitiful collective brains. So, instead, we’ll just give it to you straight – Sarah Weinman reports that Tana French’s debut novel IN THE WOODS has won the Edgar for Best First Novel By An American Author. Hoo-rah! Of course, the downside to Tana’s win means that we’ll have to disinclude her from the roster of Irish crime fiction writers, but that’s a small price to pay. Run wild, Tana, run free! Meanwhile, the winner of the Best Novel award was John Hart’s DOWN RIVER, and Megan Abbott scooped the Best Paperback Original with QUEENPIN. Bernd Kochanowski? We still love you, but you’re sacked. For all the Edgar details, jump on over here
* How long have we been waiting use that header? Way too long, that’s how long ...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A well-deserved "Whoo Hoo" to Tana!!!

OK Dec, we're now getting ready to cheer for your forthcoming win at Bristol.....

Anonymous said...

Sacked and burned.

But life was beautiful.

Declan Burke said...

Mick? You know you want to be in Bristol, baby ... Bernd? We take it all back. Please forgive us. If you'll rejoin the CAP Towers team, we'll give the the Minister for Propaganda Elf's office with the view of the Japanese gardens ... Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

Declan,

in the basement I never saw the garden. Is it stone garden like in the writer's museum (don't know the name anymore) in Dublin ?

Kerrie said...

Am I being a little too cynical if I point out that Tana French's cosmopolitan background "Tana French grew up in Ireland, Italy, the US and Malawi" [taken from her site] at http://www.tanafrench.com/pages/about.htm probably lets her qualify for a number of awards. It doesn't seem to me that she really necessarily loses her claim to be Irish.

Declan Burke said...

Kerrie? We wouldn't care if Tana claimed Tralfamodore as her place of birth ... she's more Irish than the Irish themselves, as the old saying goes. Especially now that she's won the Edgar. Cheers, Dec

Oh, and Bernd? Sorry about that whole basement / dungeon thing. We thought you and HR Pufnstuf would be good for one another, that's all ... Cheers, Dec