Soul Trader

As anyone who has attended any of his events will attest, John Connolly is something of a one-man three-ring circus when it comes to his public appearances. Which makes for a refreshing change from when most writers, yours truly included, step into the limelight, and the ‘entertainment’ generally runs as follows: “Thanks for coming, cough, mumble, insert-name-of-book-here, rhubarb, the support of my wife / husband, cough, erm, ah, copies to be signed, I thank you all.” Connolly, on the other hand, looks born to a life treading the boards when he takes centre-stage, although as with most things writing-related, I’d imagine that it’s years of hard graft that makes it all look so easy and comfortable.
  Anyway, the point behind that preamble is that John Connolly will be appearing at Eason’s on O’Connell Street, Dublin, on August 29th, for a public interview, the purpose of which is to officially launch his latest Charlie Parker tome, THE BURNING SOUL. Quoth the blurb elves:

Randall Haight has a secret: when he was a teenager, he and his friend killed a 14-year-old girl. Randall did his time and built a new life in the small Maine town of Pastor’s Bay, but somebody has discovered the truth about Randall. He is being tormented by anonymous messages, haunting reminders of his past crime, and he wants private detective Charlie Parker to make it stop. But another 14-year-old girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor’s Bay, and the missing girl’s family has its own secrets to protect. Now Parker must unravel a web of deceit involving the police, the FBI, a doomed mobster named Tommy Morris, and Randall Haight himself. Because Randall Haight is telling lies . . .

  There’s no word yet as to who will be conducting the interview, by the way, although it’s probably fair to say, and with all due respect, that it doesn’t really matter. The event is free, by the way, although I’d imagine that it’ll be heavily booked in advance; my advice is to book early, and book often …

  For those of you residing in Norn Iron, by the way, John Connolly will be appearing at No Alibis a couple of days later, on September 1st, in tandem with Alan Glynn, who launches BLOODLAND later in the month, on September 13th, in the Gutter Bookshop. More of which anon, although given that I’m about 60 pages short of finishing BLOODLAND, let me just say that it’s Alan Glynn’s finest novel yet, which isn’t bad going considering his previous offerings were the excellent THE DARK FIELDS and WINTERLAND. Put it in your diary now; it should be a cracking night …
  As mentioned previously on these pages, by the way, the launch of THE BURNING SOUL kicks off a very impressive run of Irish crime offerings, from the likes of Alan Glynn, Colin Bateman, Stuart Neville and Ava McCarthy. For more, clickety-click here …

Here, Baby, Here

If you’re not doing anything else this forthcoming Friday, July 22nd, and you’re in Dublin, you could do a lot worse than wander into Eason’s on O’Connell Street, where the justifiably revered Dennis Lehane (right) will be in situ. The author of the celebrated Kenzie and Gennaro series of novels - the most recent of which is MOONLIGHT MILE - along with standalones MYSTIC RIVER, SHUTTER ISLAND and THE GIVEN DAY, Dennis Lehane is a rare beast, a critically acclaimed bestseller with the artistic licence and ambition to repeatedly push himself out of his comfort zone.
  He may also be the most successfully adapted novelist of his generation: GONE, BABY, GONE, MYSTIC RIVER and SHUTTER ISLAND have all transferred brilliantly to the silver screen, courtesy of directors Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese, respectively. And if that wasn’t enough, Dennis Lehane has also won awards for his writing for HBO’s epic series, ‘The Wire’.
  There’s a downside to Friday’s event, of course, and it’s that yours truly will be ‘in conversation’ with Dennis Lehane, aka skulking just out of the spotlight and hoping that my questions don’t cause him to fall off his stool laughing and / or as result of being rendered comatose with boredom. Still, I promise to keep out of the way as much as possible, given that this is a rare opportunity for readers to meet with a writer who has become a living legend at the tender age of 46.
  For all the details on how to book tickets, clickety-click here …