“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

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

BOOKS TO DIE FOR: It’s Officially ‘Indispensable’

I mentioned last week that the U.S. edition of BOOKS TO DIE FOR, edited by John Connolly and yours truly, launches at the Cleveland Bouchercon this coming Friday with the help of a cast of thousands, almost, but yesterday was in fact its official publication day. Three cheers, two stools and a resounding huzzah! etc.
  Those of you wondering what all the fuss is about can find said tome here, along with a sample chapter, the excellent J. Wallis Martin on Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Dupin Tales’. Meanwhile, over at The Rap Sheet, Jeff Pierce was kind enough to declare BOOKS TO DIE FOR one of ‘Pierce’s Picks’, in the process quibbling about some of the names that aren’t in the book. That quibbling is a sound, I’d imagine, we’ll be hearing a lot of in the coming months - indeed, half the fun of such books is the arguments they provoke about who and what did or didn’t make it in.
  As I mentioned previously, I won’t be making the trip to Cleveland for this year’s Bouchercon, which is very disappointing. I also feel rather guilty, given that John Connolly is embarking on a Homeric road trip to promote BTDF after B’con, incorporating venues in Oakmont and Harrisburg PA, New York, Washington DC, Richmond VA, Pittsboro NC, and Boston and South Portland in Maine. For all the details on John’s trip, which will see him talking about BTDF in the company of fellow contributors to the book, clickety-click here …
  Meanwhile, back on this side of the pond, the Daily Telegraph provided one of the pithiest reviews of any book I’ve ever seen, in the process declaring BOOKS TO DIE FOR ‘indispensable’. Which is nice. I’m also reliably informed that - for Irish readers - BTDF will be the subject of a featurette on The Works on RTE1 on Thursday night, October 4th, at 10.45pm. That’s waaaaay past jammys-time at CAP Towers, of course, but maybe we’ll make an exception for the night that’s in it.
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