SLAUGHTER’S HOUND: A ‘Hard Boiled Delight’, Apparently

Well that was a very enjoyable a week. Off with yours truly to Manchester last Wednesday, to meet with John Connolly and head to Deansgate Waterstones, where the lovely Barbara Nadel was waiting, along with an impressive number of crime and mystery fans agog to hear about (a) John’s latest tome THE WRATH OF ANGELS and (b) BOOKS TO DIE FOR. A great night was had, and particularly for yours truly, as I got to meet with the Book Witch again, after a hiatus of about four years. Not that you’d know she’d enjoyed the experience. Very Scandinavian in her emotions, said Witch. I think I came away with frostbite of the soul. Still, the fact that she brought along a lovely book for the equally lovely Lily did help me thaw out later on …
  Off with us to Scarborough then on Thursday, with yours truly doing the navigating, which is always a recipe for disaster. And so it proved, but we’ll draw a discreet veil, etc. Scarborough was a smashing evening, and it’s a very pretty town too - I’ll be back in short order, and possibly for the literary festival next April. A really, really nice bunch of people …
  I wish I could say the same about the folks in Liverpool, but they let a load of Everton fans into the event, which was - appropriately enough - held at the Bridewell One, formerly a police station, and now a venue where the punters get to have a Pimms or two in what used to be holding cells. Nice. Adam Creed was good enough to join John and I on the dais for what turned out to be a hugely enjoyable evening that quickly dispensed with any kind of formality and turned into a Q&A / chat / slagging match that lasted a couple of hours. Weirdly, even the Everton fans behaved themselves. And I had a terrific conversation about Billy Roche. All told, a brilliant end to the week.

  And then it was back home this morning, on the red-eye into Dublin, to discover a very nice review for SLAUGHTER’S HOUND in the Guardian, courtesy of Laura Wilson. The gist of it runs a lot like this:

“Many writers of crime fiction are drawn to the streetwise narrator with the wisecracking voice – Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett have a lot to answer for – but only a handful can make it credible and funny. Irish writer Burke is one who has succeeded spectacularly well … From the arresting opening image to the unexpected twist at the end, this is a hardboiled delight.” - Laura Wilson, The Guardian

  Which pretty much sets the seal on a week to remember. And now I’m off to bed. For a week. Nighty-night.

BOOKS TO DIE FOR: The Tour (Part 4)

It’s hi-ho for Manchester this afternoon, for the first leg of a quick UK tour for BOOKS TO DIE FOR, which also incorporates, or is incorporated by, John Connolly’s THE WRATH OF ANGELS tour. I have to say I’m really looking forward to the next few days - bookish people talking books, is there any finer way to waste / invest your time?
  All the details for the various events and venues - in Manchester, Leeds, York, Scarborough and Liverpool - come below, and if you’re likely to be near one of the venues and feel like dropping by to say hi, we’d love to see you.
  I’ll apologise in advance, by the way, for the irregular transmissions from this blog over the next while (and for the last while too, for that matter). It’s a very busy time, with BOOKS TO DIE FOR and SLAUGHTER’S HOUND to promote, and various festivals and events taking place, and a day job to be kept on the rails, etc. I’m beginning to realise that I’ll have to scale way back on the blogging for the foreseeable future, especially once the dust settles on these two books and I start to think seriously about my next opus.
  It’s also true that the old magic has gone out of the blogging a little bit. Time was when the bloggers’ quid pro quo wasn’t intrinsic in a you-scratch-my-back way, it was simply a fact that bloggers tended to be enthusiastic about other people’s books. Nowadays, with new authors being instructed from on high to promote themselves on social media, it’s all become a bit of a shrill screeching (or shill screeching?) on the interwebs, with a whole new generation of writers interested only in talking about their own books. Which, to be perfectly frank, is completely off-putting. And when debutant authors - writers, of course, being those who are supposed to value words and their meaning more than anyone else - are guilty of trumpeting their own work as, say, ‘Ireland’s best-loved detective / favourite serial killer-catcher / critically acclaimed femme fatale’, etc. even before their books are published, then it all starts to wear thin very quickly.
  That said, I’m still fascinated by the quality of emerging Irish crime fiction, so I’ll be keeping tabs on that. Not to the same extent as previously, perhaps, but I can’t imagine that I’ll be packing it in entirely. It’s fair to say, though, that from here on in Crime Always Pays will probably be focusing on a narrower range of books rather than trying to cover everything published, regardless of quality.
  Anyway, upward and onward to Manchester this evening, where I’ll be in Waterstones in Deansgate in the company of John Connolly and the very lovely Barbara Nadel. Oh, and I’m told the Book Witch might zoom in on her broom, which would be very nice indeed …

Wednesday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Manchester, England
John Connolly & Declan Burke discuss BOOKS TO DIE FOR and sign their books at Waterstones
91 Deansgate
Manchester
0161 837 3000
Tickets £3, available from the shop or book via Twitter @waterstonesmcr

Thursday, September 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Leeds, England
John Connolly & Declan Burke sign their books at Waterstones
93-97 Albion Street
Leeds
0843 290 8443

Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m.
Scarborough, England
John Connolly & Declan Burke discuss BOOKS TO DIE FOR and sign their books
Scarborough Library Concert Hall
Scarborough
Tickets £3 including refreshments, available from the library

Friday, September 14 at 1:00 p.m.
York, England
John Connolly & Declan Burke sign their books at Waterstones
28-29 High Ousegate
York
01904 628740

Friday, September 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Liverpool, England
John Connolly & Declan Burke in conversation with Adam Creed at Waterstones
14-16 Bold Street
Liverpool
0843 290 8455