“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

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Consider us well and truly rocked, Amadeus. The good folk at AVON, out of HarperCollins, are this week’s generous souls offering you – yes, YOU! – free books, the tome in question being THE MOZART CONSPIRACY, Scott Mariani’s follow-up to THE ALCHEMIST’S SECRET. First, the blurb elves:
Former SAS operative Ben Hope is running for his life. Enlisted by beautiful Welsh opera star Leigh Llewellyn to investigate her brother’s mysterious death, Ben finds himself caught up in a centuries-old puzzle. The official line states that Oliver died in an accident whilst investigating Mozart’s death, but the facts don’t add up. Oliver’s research reveals that Mozart, a notable freemason, may have been killed by a shadowy and powerful splinter group of the cult. The only clues lie in an ancient letter, believed to have been written by Mozart himself. When Leigh and Ben receive video evidence of a ritual sacrifice being performed by hooded men, they realise that the sect is still in existence today…and will stop at nothing to remain a secret. Whilst researching this novel, Scott Mariani became increasingly convinced that political forces could potentially have been involved in Mozart’s death. This stunning new theory makes THE MOZART CONSPIRACY as controversial and provocative as THE DA VINCI CODE …
Lovely. To be in with a chance of winning a copy of THE MOZART CONSPIRACY, just answer the following question.
Is Scott Mariani:
(a) a great Scott?
(b) a great Scot?
(c) the next Dan Brown?
(d) the man who finally put the ‘art’ into Mozart?
(e) all of the above.
Answers via the comment box, please, leaving a contact email address (using ‘at’ rather than @ to confound the spam-munchkins) before noon on Tuesday, August 5. Et bon chance, mes amis

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would that be Monday or the 5th of August, Sir?

Unknown said...

(e) all of the above

Becuase if all else fails, all of the above is always the best answer

David Baynham said...

Dec, How about a) only spelled "Great Scott" as in Great Scott a conspirarcy novel worth reading about Mozart!!

djbaynham(at)aol.com

Unknown said...

let´s just say (e) and hope he has more art than Mozart:)
helgabk at gmail.com

Declan Burke said...

Folks, I have to say I'm shocked at the low level of entries for this one ... it sounds to me like a terrific read. Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

Ah, you've discovered today isn't the 5th?

People are on holiday. Their internet provider has cut them off. They prefer to pay for their books. Or they just don't know the answer to your question. Or something.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, as there isn't an option f [for all of them except option c!] I'll have to go for option e :

flip at flip18[dot]co[dot]uk

Liz said...

I am a huge advocate of the amazing Scott Mariani - such an all-round good guy and his writing is very good indeed.

Not entering the comp, but had to big-up Scott a bit as he is near to my heart!

Liz x