The Weekly Round-Up

Okay, so this is what we’ll try to do. Instead of having time-sapping daily-ish updates here at Crime Always Pays, we’ll run a weekly update of news, reviews, interviews and possibly – if the occasion demands – ewes.
  If you’re an Irish crime writer and you have a book / launch / ewe etc. forthcoming, please feel free to drop me a line at dbrodb[at]gmail.com.
  And so to the Weekly Update:

Via the good works of Mick Halpin over at the Irish Crime Writing Facebook page, we hear that Ken Bruen (right, as noirishly re-imagined by fellow Irish crime scribe KT McCaffrey) will read at the Irish Writers’ Centre as part of its ‘Lunchtime Readings’ programme. The reading will take place on Friday, February 22nd, and all the details are here.

Norn Iron-born author Seth Patrick will publish a debut title, REVIVER (Tor), in June, with the blurb elves wibbling thusly:

Revivers. Able to wake the recently dead, and let them bear witness to their own demise. Twelve years after the first reviver came to light, they have become accepted by an uneasy public. The testimony of the dead is permitted in courtrooms across the world. Forensic revival is a routine part of police investigation. In the United States, that responsibility falls to the Forensic Revival Service. Despite his troubled past, Jonah Miller is one of their best. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is watching. Waiting. His superiors tell him it was only in his mind, a product of stress. Jonah is not so certain. Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered, and Jonah finds himself getting dragged into the hunt for answers. Working with Harker’s daughter Annabel, he’s determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and reveal a threat that if not stopped in time, will put all of humanity in danger . . .

There’s another crime fiction debut available right now, WHITE BONES (Head of Zeus), albeit a ‘debut’ from the bestselling horror author Graham Masterton. To wit:

One wet November morning, a field on Meagher’s Farm gives up the dismembered bones of eleven women. In this part of Ireland, unmarked graves are common. But these bones date to 1915, long before the Troubles. What’s more, these bones bear the marks of a meticulous executioner. These women were almost certainly skinned alive. Detective Katie Maguire, of the Cork Garda, is used to dead bodies. But this is wholesale butchery. Her team think these long-dead women are a waste of police time. Katie is determined to give them justice. And then a young American tourist goes missing, and her bones, carefully stripped of flesh, are discovered on the same farm. With the crimes of the past echoing in the present, Katie must solve a decades-old ritualistic murder before this terrifying killer strikes again.

Elsewhere, there was very good news for Stuart Neville when it was announced that the movie version of THE TWELVE will star Pierce Brosnan:

Presales on a big-screen adaptation of Stuart Neville’s (right) revenge thriller novel The Twelve, penned by CBS late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson and Ted Mulkerin and starring Pierce Brosnan, will begin at the European Film Market … It is to be directed by Terry Loan and produced by Ferguson, Steve Clark-Hall (Sherlock Holmes), Beau St. Clair (The Thomas Crown Affair), Rebecca Tucker and Jonathan Loughran and is scheduled to shoot at the end of 2013.

And while we’re talking good news, here’s a nice, insightful take on Gene Kerrigan’s THE RAGE by John Powers over at NPR.

Finally, I remain to be convinced by ‘book trailers’ as an effective method of promotion, but here’s a very neat and tidy example of same for Peter Wilben’s new Joe Grace series:

Ken Bruen’s Cartoons

Ah, bored. Remember being bored? God be with the days when I’d be so bored I’d collapse comatose on the couch and flick through the TV channels just to see if there was anything on that didn’t involve cooking, buying property or Hitler. Halcyon days.
  Boredom’s a bit of a luxury these days, as is TV: about the only TV I watch now is the occasional baseball game on ESPN, Match of the Day on a Saturday night, and a documentary now and again. I got to watch half of a documentary on the Minoans last night, and good stuff it was too, although I stumbled off to bed once they started to get into the really good stuff, i.e., human sacrifice. Not that the human sacrifice bit put me off; more that I wanted to be alert when I come to the second half, so as not to miss the gory details.
  Anyway, I may just have to make room in the schedule for some TV on Thursday night, as I discovered whilst roaming through KT McCaffrey’s new blog. Quoth KT:

“I’m looking forward to Ken Bruen’s latest Jack Taylor episode. It’s on TV3 this Thursday at 9.30pm. Should be interesting to see how Bruen’s writing translates to the small screen. This one is called ‘The Pikemen Murders’ and will be shown over two nights.”

  Meanwhile, Publishers Weekly throws its eye over Sir Kenneth’s latest offering, HEADSTONE, with the gist running thusly:

Moments of grace are fleeting in Bruen’s world, and things rapidly head south after Taylor receives a miniature gravestone in the post, courtesy of a group of psychopaths calling themselves “Headstone.” Led by a fanatic recidivist criminal from a previous Taylor case, they target the “weak,” including the handicapped, the mentally ill, and the homeless. Now they have their sights set on Taylor and everyone close to him. That the plot is a tad cartoonish and over-the-top scarcely matters in a remarkable series that at heart is about one man’s reckoning with a lifetime of pain and loss in a rapidly changing Ireland.

  ‘A tad cartoonish’? A tad harsh, no? Especially when it’s the case that Ken Bruen tends to use plot in the way a TV chef might use a wok, a purely functional tool into which are mixed his prime ingredients of character, atmosphere and language.
  Of course, it being a Ken Bruen novel, virtually anything is possible, and without having read it yet, it’s not beyond the bounds of plausibility, given that his previous offering featured the Devil, that the storyline features actual cartoon characters.
  Ken Bruen scripting Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote? I’d buy that for a dollar, not least because I’d imagine that that perpetually irritating overgrown chicken would finally get its comeuppance …

Boylan Point

It’s curtains for KT McCaffrey, folks. Or - dum-dum-DUM! - is it? “The latest of the excellent series featuring Dublin journalist Emma Boylan,” was how the Irish Independent’s Myles McWeeney described KT McCaffrey’s previous outing, THE CAT TRAP, and he may well find himself using the same phrase again one of these days. For lo! KT launches NO CURTAIN CALL on this coming Friday, April 9th, at the Central Hotel on Exchequer Street in Dublin, with special guest Betty Ann Norton doing the honours. All, as if it needs to be said, are welcome, and if anyone cuts up rough on the door, just tell them Crime Always Pays sent you. The gig kicks off at 6.30pm. Quoth the blurb elves:

When the naked, blood-encrusted body of a well-known property developer is discovered on a graveyard slab, the media frenzy surrounding the story is overwhelming. Investigative journalist Emma Boylan is assigned to the case but she soon discovers that she will be playing second fiddle to a rival male reporter, much to her displeasure. Peeved at being sidelined, Emma embarks on a line of inquiry that leads her deep into the dark side of London's West End. Dead bodies continue to turn up amid the most elaborate theatrical settings imaginable. Undeterred, she probes further into disturbing deeds that have been a long time hidden. Now she must peel away layer after layer of deception until events collide and spiral into a terrifying, spectacular climax …

Casting A Cold Eye On Melanie Yeats

Ellen McCarthy got in touch this week, which was nice, to send me on a copy of her new novel, SILENT CROSSING, which was nicer still, and even included a note, which last had me trembling on the verge of ecstasy. Anyhoo, SILENT CROSSING is Ellen’s third offering, with the blurb elves wittering thusly:

A young man emerges from a car crash on a remote road in Boston. Although he walks away unscathed the crash has claimed an innocent life. Sixteen years later Melanie Yeats walks into a Garda station with her hands stained in blood. As she gradually reveals her story the detectives are left with more questions than answers. What is the connection between Melanie, her missing husband, the car crash in Boston and the death of a young woman? Is Melanie a murderer or a victim? Whose blood is on her hands? Where will her story lead them?

  For more, clickety-click here …
  Also in touch was KT McCaffrey, to let me know the date and details of his launch for NO CURTAIN CALL, the latest Emma Boylan outing, but I’m not telling you them now because the launch isn’t until April and you’ll only forget. Herewith be the blurb elves:

When the naked, blood-encrusted body of a well-known property developer is discovered on a graveyard slab, the media frenzy surrounding the story is overwhelming. Investigative journalist Emma Boylan is assigned to the case but she soon discovers that she will be playing second fiddle to a rival male reporter, much to her displeasure. Peeved at being sidelined, Emma embarks on a line of inquiry that leads her deep into the dark side of London's West End. Dead bodies continue to turn up amid the most elaborate theatrical settings imaginable. Undeterred, she probes further into disturbing deeds that have been a long time hidden. Now she must peel away layer after layer of deception until events collide and spiral into a terrifying, spectacular climax …

  Also in touch this week, albeit indirectly, was Brian McGilloway, whose fourth Inspector Devlin novel landed on the mat. The blurb elves being a busy little bunch this week, here’s their take on THE RISING:

When Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin is summoned to a burning barn, he finds inside the charred remains of a man who is quickly identified as a local drug dealer, Martin Kielty. It soon becomes clear that Kielty’s death was no accident, and suspicion falls on a local vigilante group. Former paramilitaries, the men call themselves The Rising. Meanwhile, a former colleague’s teenage son has gone missing during a seaside camping trip. Devlin is relieved when the boy’s mother, Caroline Williams, receives a text message from her son’s phone, and so when a body is reported, washed up on a nearby beach, the inspector is baffled. When another drug dealer is killed, Devlin realises that the spate of deaths is more complex than mere vigilantism. But just as it seems he is close to understanding the case, a personal crisis will strike at the heart of Ben’s own family, and he will be forced to confront the compromises his career has forced upon him. With his fourth novel, McGilloway announces himself as one of the most exciting crime novelists around: gripping, heartbreaking and always surprising, The Rising is a tour de force – McGilloway’s most personal novel so far.

  Finally, and as my mother used to say, the dead arose and spoke to many – or near enough, for lo, Declan Hughes has started blogging again, the better to report on the many nice people saying many nice things about ALL THE DEAD VOICES. For all the skinny, clickety-click here …

  This week I have been mostly reading: THE LOSS ADJUSTOR by Aifric Campbell; THE CAVES OF THE SUN by Adrian Bailey; and RIDDLEY WALKER by Russell Hoban.

The Sunday Review

Being a cornucopia of reviews of Irish crime writing wot have popped into my inbox this week. To wit:

Siobhan Dowd, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY (Malaysia Star)

Siobhan Dowd, THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Siobhan Dowd, BOG CHILD / A SWIFT PURE CRY (Toronto Star)

KT McCaffrey, THE CAT TRAP (Bookspot Central)

John Boyne, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Publishers Weekly)

Tana French, THE LIKENESS (Seattle Times)

Derek Landy, SKULLDUGGERY PLEASANT: PLAYING WITH FIRE (The Independent)

His Horse Was Fast As Polished Steel

KT McCaffrey (right) and your genial host have been rapping back and forth, on and off, about crime fic song lyrics, with Townes van Zandt a particular favourite of yours truly, in particular St. John the Gambler and Pancho and Lefty. Herewith be KT’s take on Pancho and Lefty, with which I agree for the most part – although I tend to believe that van Zandt’s version is the definitive one. Take it away, KT …

A SONG FOR KEN

Reading Ken Bruen’s AMERICAN SKIN set me off on the song lyric trail again ... in a roundabout sort of way. Bear with me. You see, Ken and I go back some ways. In 2001, a review for my third book THE BODY ROCK appeared in the Evening Herald, and because it took up half a page and was a particularly good critique, I noted the reviewer’s name: Ken Bruen. I’d never heard of Ken at the time but then I got hold of THE GUARDS and we made contact. We have, over the intervening years, developed a mutual respect for each other's writing. Ken dedicated THE VIXEN to me and worked my name into the text of THE DRAMATIST, while I brought THE GUARDS into the narrative in my last offering, THE CAT TRAP.
  Fast forward to AMERICAN SKIN. Dade is, without doubt, the No.1 bad dude in Bruen’s hierarchy of baddies. Early in Dade’s career, while imprisoned, his cell mate knocks out his teeth, saying, “Don’t need ’em for blow jobs.” Six months later, Dade settles the score by extracting the guy’s eyes with a spoon. Could only have come from the pen of Bruen.
  At one point in the story, Dade, with one eye on the Mexican border, conjures up a line from Pancho and Lefty – ‘All the Federales say ...’ – but can’t remember what comes next. Well, that got me thinking. I unearthed Willie and Merle’s definitive version of the Townes Van Zandt classic and thought I might share the lyrics with y’all.

PANCHO AND LEFTY

Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath’s as hard as kerosene
You weren’t your mama’s only boy
But her favourite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams

Pancho was a bandit boys
His horse was fast as polished steel
Wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dying words
That’s the way it goes

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him hang around
Out of kindness I suppose

Lefty he can’t sing the blues
All night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in Lefty’s mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go
There ain’t nobody knows

All the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness I suppose

The poets tell how Pancho fell
Lefty’s livin’ in a cheap hotel
The desert’s quiet and Cleveland’s cold
So the story ends we’re told
Pancho needs your prayers it’s true,
But save a few for Lefty too
He just did what he had to do
Now he’s growing old

A few grey federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him go so wrong
Out of kindness I suppose

Around The Web In 80 Seconds*

Being a pick-‘n’-mix selection from the interweb of stuff we were too busy / lazy to plug when we should have, to wit:
  Gerard Brennan over at CSNI mocks up a cover for Adrian McKinty’s forthcoming FIFTY GRAND (right), and does a damn fine job. GB is plugging the fact that Serpent’s Tail will be published FIFTY GRAND this side of the pond, and he’s also got an excellent interview with John McAllister of LINE OF FLIGHT fame going on. All of which is very nice …
  Over at the Sunday Indo, Alison Walsh has a piece on forthcoming Irish novels of interest, among which are the latest from Andrew Nugent, Alex Barclay, Benny Blanco and Sir Kenneth of Bruen …
  A couple of new blogs for your delectation: the inimitable Book Witch has branched out into non-book matters of culture and whatnot with CultureWitch – just don’t dare ask who Roger Whitaker is. Meanwhile, Michael Donnellan embarks on The Great Search for Truth, with the latest post pertaining to ‘Roscommon’s Roswell’. Erm, Michael? Those little green men in Roscommon are actually the indigenous natives …
  Upward and onward, and KT McCaffrey lets us know that he’ll be swanking around Trim Castle Hotel, Co. Meath, on September 20th, spraffing away about crime fiction in the rather elevated company of Laura Wilson. Nice. KT? Tell Laura we love her. For all in the info on the day, jump on over to KT’s interweb malarkey …
  Finally, we haven’t mentioned John McFetridge on Crime Always Pays for, oh, it must be minutes now. John, for those of you recently arriving, will play Stadler to my Waldorf as we partake in a road-trip from Toronto to Baltimore, via NY, Vermont, Boston and Philly, in the week leading up to the Baltimore Bouchercon. I’ll be posting up an itinerary sometime this week, but in the meantime I’m wondering if the guy ever gets fed up being compared to Elmore Leonard. To wit:

“It’s natural to compare McFetridge to Elmore Leonard. He has a similar deadpan humour and a knack for evoking complex, three-dimensional lives with just a few lines of dialogue. It would be equally apt to compare his examination of urban life with that of the television series, The Wire, in the way the cops and criminals operate on parallel tracks, crime and big business are synonymous, and the portrait of a city, bit by bit, comes together in all its squalid, teeming glory.” – Barbara Fister, Reviewing the Evidence
“This top-notch Canadian novel does noir with a wry cynicism that will remind you of Elmore Leonard … The sharp and funny dialogue on both sides is sometimes so terse it’s hard to follow – but well worth it.” – Jane Dickinson, Rocky Mountain News

  John? Just say the word and I can have a cease-and-desist out on the Elmore Leonard references in three minutes flat …

* Providing you don’t actually click on any of the links

I Love Them Whores / They Never Judge You

The Grand Viz and KT McCaffrey have been rapping back and forth about songs as condensed crime fiction novels – stripped-back and pared-down narratives about losers, loners and the kind of suckers who never caught an even break. Bruce Springsteen’s album Nebraska could be considered a mini-library in that respect, although there’s a couple of Townes van Zandt (right, foreground) numbers – The Ballad of Pancho and Lefty, and Waiting ’Round to Die – the CAP Towers crew wouldn’t mind reading as fleshed-out tales. It’s been done before – nine years after Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe (1967) hit the top of the charts, Herman Raucher was commissioned to write a novel (Ode to Billy Joe) based on the lyrics, which then went on to become a best-seller.
  Meanwhile, the Grand Viz went stark raving crazy on his holidays and bought two – yes, two! – new CDs, one on the advice of John Connolly – the new Joan as Policewoman collection, on which the jury remains out – the other a best-of compilation from Jane’s Addiction, whom the Viz hadn’t really listened to since his college days but has been playing off the stereo for the last week. Jane’s Addiction, for those of you unfamiliar with this particular pop combo, were a scuzzy, gutter-friendly surfer band of reprobates and ne’er-do-wells who – much like The Pixies – did all the hard work breaking ground only to see some half-arsed wasters (take a bow, Nirvana) steal all the glory. Cheese-wire guitar licks, a seismic rhythm section, Perry Farrell’s plaintively whining vocals, and lyrics to die for (“I love them whores / They never judge you …”) all added up to a speed-fuelled, head-banging package that was just too hardcore for MTV – imagine Jean Genet writing the score to an unusually melodic earthquake and you’re halfway there. What Jane’s Addiction well might prove to be, however, is the perfect retro-soundtrack for a novel currently spinning its web around the darker caverns of the Grand Viz’s skull … we’ll keep you posted.
  Anyhoo, here’s KT expanding on his song-to-novel theory …

“I collect ‘story lyrics’ like others might collect first edition books. Because of my involvement in crime fiction writing, I have a particular interest in lyrics that contain a crime-related plot, tell a self-contained story and provides a dramatic twist or punchline. So, on this visit to my collection, I’d like to share with you some lyrics that supply all the above in spades.
  “The Road Goes On Forever, written and recorded by Robert Earl Keen, packs a punch worthy of a Martin Scorsese movie and has a killer punch-line that’s guaranteed to make all red-blooded males go - ‘Ouch!’”

THE ROAD GOES ON FOREVER

Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in town
She had a reputation as a girl who’d been around
Down Main Street after midnight with a brand new pack of cigs
A fresh one hangin’ from her lips and a beer between her legs
She’d ride down to the river and meet with all her friends
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny was a loner he was older than the rest
He was going into the Navy but he couldn’t pass the test
So he hung around town he sold a little pot
The law caught wind of Sonny and one day he got caught
But he was back in business when they set him free again
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Sonny’s playin’ 8-ball at the joint where Sherry works
When some drunken outta towner put his hand up Sherry’s skirt
Sonny took his pool cue laid the drunk out on the floor
Stuffed a dollar in her tip jar and walked on out the door
She’s runnin’ right behind him reachin’ for his hand
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They jumped into his pickup Sonny jammed her down in gear
Sonny looked at Sherry and said lets get on outta here
The stars were high above them and the moon was in the east
The sun was settin’ on them when they reached Miami Beach
They got a hotel by the water and a quart of Bombay gin
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They soon ran out of money but Sonny knew a man
Who knew some Cuban refugees that dealt in contraband
Sonny met the Cubans in a house just off the route
With a briefcase full of money and a pistol in his boot
The cards were on the table when the law came bustin’ in
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

The Cubans grabbed the goodies and Sonny grabbed the Jack
He broke a bathroom window and climbed on out the back
Sherry drove the pickup through the alley on the side
Where a lawman tackled Sonny and was reading him his rights
She stepped into the alley with a single shot .410
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

They left the lawman lyin’ and they made their getaway
They got back to the motel just before the break of day
Sonny gave her all the money and he blew her a little kiss
If they ask you how this happened say I forced you into this
She watched him as his taillights disappeared around the bend
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

Its Main Street after midnight just like it was before
21 months later at the local grocery store
Sherry buys a paper and a cold six-pack of beer
The headlines read that Sonny is goin’ to the chair
She pulls back onto Main Street in her new Mercedes Benz
The road goes on forever and the party never ends

  “As one-time Taoiseach Albert Reynolds might say - ‘That’s wimmin for ya.’ If you haven’t heard the song, it's worth a spin. Some of you might be familiar with a version by the Highwaymen (Waylon, Willie, Johnny and Kris). Meanwhile, I’ve got a bunch of other lyrics that fall into this ball park so if I detect any interest out there, and if Declan’s in the mood, I’d love to share them with you.” – KT McCaffrey

KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP is published by Robert Hale

Mi Casa, Su Casa: KT McCaffrey

The continuing stooooooory of how the Grand Vizier puts his feet up and lets other people talk some sense for a change. This week: KT McCaffrey (right) on soundtracks and writing.

“I’ve tended to incorporate music and song in all of my books to date. I love the idea of having a soundtrack in the background to add that extra degree of atmosphere and encapsulate a special moment in time. I do believe my crime fiction writing has been influenced by certain tunes, lyrics that I’d been exposed to before reaching my teens. I’ve had this almost irrational fascination with song lyrics for as long as I can remember. Back when I attended national school in Clara, Co. Offaly, there was a great colourful Wurlitzer jute box in town that stocked many American Imports and had that great booming bass sound you only get with jute boxes. This was at a time just before the Beatles came along, a time when pop music was in the doldrums.
  “Each day during lunch break I’d sneak into the Bon Bon shop and drop my coins into the slot, press the required numbers and watch the discs being picked up from a rack and flipped on to the turntable. One of the song from that period to take hold of my senses, and create film-like imagery in my head, was ‘El Paso’, by Marty Robbins. What I found so extraordinary about it was its ability to portray such vivid pictures in so few words.
  “These first few verses illustrate what I mean:

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl.
Night-time would find me in Rosa’s cantina;
Music would play and Felina would whirl.

Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden;
I was in love but in vain, I could tell

One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the west Texas wind
Dashing and daring,
A drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina,
The girl that I loved.
So in anger I
Challenged the right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered in less than a heart-beat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor ...

  “See what I mean? For me, as a ten-year old, the imagery in the lyrics had the kind of impact a Coen Brothers movie might have on me today. Another song that I played to death on that old Wurlitzer, and that made a similar impression on me, was Lefty Frizzell’s ‘Long Black Veil’. Here again, in just a few lines, and in less than three minutes, the whole gamut of love, the eternal triangle, and murder, is delivered in spades:

Ten years ago on a cold dark night
There was someone killed ‘neath the town hall light
There were a few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me.
The judge said son what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else then you wont have to die
I spoke not a word though it meant my life
For I had been in the arms of my best friends wife.
The scaffold is high and eternity near
She stands in the crowd and sheds not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind blows
In a long black veil she cries o’er my bones.
She walks these hills
In a long black veil
She visits my grave
When the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me.

  “Artists like Johnny Cash and Mick Jagger have since recorded versions of Long Black Veil, so obviously I’m not alone in being moved by this simple but evocative song. And talking of Johnny Cash, he, more than most, had the ability to cut a story down to a mere handful of words, while still creating a powerful impact, eg: Folsom Prison Blues:

When I was just a baby
My Mama told me “Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don’t ever play with guns,”
But I shot a man in Reno,
Just to watch him die,
When I hear that whistle blowin’
I hang my head and cry.

  “Yes folks, these are but a few of the songs that set my toes tapping and the cine-camera inside my head whirring. My taste in music has moved along and I love some of today’s output, but my heart remains captivated by those early memories from the late ’50s and early ’60s. There’s a whole bunch of similar story songs of crime and passion that would take up too much space to reproduce on CAP blog but if any of you are interested, you could do a lot worse than google songs like Open Pit Mine by George Jones, Saginaw Michigan by Lefty Frizzell, or Dolly Parton’s The Carroll County Accident.
  “There might even be an idea there for a good crime fiction novel there …” - KT McCaffrey

KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP is published by Robert Hale

Mi Casa, Su Casa: KT McCaffrey

The continuing stooooooory of how the Grand Vizier puts his feet up and lets other people talk some sense for a change. This week: KT McCaffrey (right) on casting fiction.

Casting Characters in Fiction

As a writer, the question I get asked most frequently is without a doubt, ‘Do I base my characters on real people, i.e. acquaintances, or do I conjure them up from my imagination?’ My answers are never as clear-cut as I’d like them to be. I could say that for the most part my characters, as the disclaimer at the beginning of my books claims, are fictitious and that any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Well yes, that’s the necessary legalistic position, but of course as an observer of the human condition I am influenced by the people I interact with on a daily basis, so it follows that these same people inform the characters that inhabit the pages of my books. In essence my characters are created from an amalgamation of the crowd I hang with, taking various personality traits and physical shapes from each and blending them so that they form a believable whole.
  Only in one instance did I base a character almost entirely on a living person. In my second novel, KILLING TIME, the fictitious character Jacqueline Miller has been involved in a serious car accident that has changed her life irrevocably. Half her face had been badly damaged in the accident, and evidence of cosmetic surgery remained visible beneath the carefully applied make-up; her left eye looks strangely out of line with the right one. In a court case resulting from the accident, Jacqueline is awarded enough money to allow her give up her teacher’s job and to purchase two houses in Leeson Park.
  Here’s the reality: back in 1969, as a student in the NCAD I got to know a Cork-born woman named Lean Scully. She’d been a teacher before a horrific road accident almost brought her life to an abrupt end. The accident had seriously disfigured her and she needed a series of extensive skin grafts to her face. Arising out of the accident and subsequent court case, she received enough compensation to buy two magnificent houses, numbers 49 and 50 in Leeson Park. She opened a public relations practice in No. 49. Sounds familiar? Even though I was just an art student back then she sometimes hired me to design brochures and corporate publications for her clients. The money I earned ended up in the tills of The Pembroke, Toners and The International Bar. Happy days!
  Lean Scully, this woman I was later to morph into the Jacqueline Miller character, kept lodgers in the second house – among them a young American student from Milwaukee named Peter Straub (right), who would become famous many years later for novels like GHOST STORY, THE FLOATING DRAGON, and THE TALISMAN (written with his friend Stephen King). Straub was attending university at the time, struggling to write poetry and studying for a Ph.D. I knew him on a nodding basis and attended a few poetry readings he gave in various pubs popular with us students (The great traditional musician Donal Lunny who, incidentally was a fellow traveller of mine in the NCAD, took up residence at one stage in the same rooms that Peter Straub once inhabited.)
  Throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s I continued to do occasional design work for Lean and was always delighted when she invited me to attend the lavish, boozy parties she threw in No. 49. In 1999, when I decided to write my first book, REVENGE, Lean offered to read the manuscript before I offered it to a publisher. Unlike me, she was one of those people who knew every rule and regulation in regard to the proper usage of the English language. She was aghast at what I’d given her. ‘It seems to me,’ she said in her deep throaty voice, ‘you have a bucket full of commas, semicolons, apostrophes, and all you do is throw them at the page.’ In my defence, the manuscript represent my very first attempt at writing, though there are some people today who claim I’ve still got that bucket. Once Lean had managed to teach me to turn my text into what she called ‘acceptable English’, she enjoyed reading my books. I remember being concerned about giving her KILLING TIME to read, wondering what she’d make of Jacqueline Miller character. To my surprise, she didn’t make the connection. There is of course the possibility that she didn’t want to make the connection on account of the unsavoury actions I had the fictitious character enact in my story.
  Lean loved reading and listening to classical music but her great love, her passion, was for the theatre. She had become a permanent fixture at the Edinburgh Festival, where her support and opinions were taken seriously and greatly appreciated. In contrast, certain well-known theatrical heads in Dublin viewed her as something of a nuisance and dismissed her with rude indifference. When Lean died in 2004, she had the last laugh, taking revenge on those in Dublin theatre land who had subjected her to such shabby treatment. In her will, she directed her executors to sell the two houses in Leeson Park, and after a bequest to a friend and the Carmelite Fathers, the proceeds from the property was to go to the Edinburgh Festival. I understand it amounted to the guts of €5 million. Don’t you just love it?
  During her lifetime, Lean mixed with the movers and shakers, the glamour set, the golden circle, but I was one of only a dozen people in attendance at her burial in Dean’s Grange cemetery. How sad is that? Since her death all my characters have remained fictitious and any resemblance to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Yeah, right ...

KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP is published by Robert Hale

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “McGilloway’s storytelling is razor-sharp and the description and atmosphere is outstanding … Thoughtful and taut storytelling with an edgy tone beneath the rural setting,” says Sharon Wheeler at Reviewing the Evidence of GALLOWS LANE. “A stunning second novel … McGilloway has written another compelling book here with no clichés or easy answers. Taut and fast paced,” says Verbal Magazine. Over at It’s A Crime, Crime Fic Reader agrees: “McGilloway’s strengths lie in plotting … But, above and beyond that, characterisation is key to any good crime novel and in this, McGilloway excels … McGilloway’s novels are essentially police-procedurals, but the psychological impact and theme is never far way.” Maxine Clarke at Euro Crime won’t be out-done: “[GALLOWS LANE] is an absorbing, satisfying book that delivers on all its plot promises; provides a strong sense of humanity; and leaves the reader looking forward to more.” The inimitable Gerard Brennan at CSNI tosses in his two cents on McGilloway’s BORDERLANDS: “As the story unfolded and through his thoughts and actions, [Devlin] became a fully-formed and complex protagonist. No major flaws, apart from a slight lack of restraint emotionally and physically, but you know, that’s kind of original in itself, isn’t it? I am looking forward to getting to know the man a lot better in the coming instalments.” Lovely stuff … And now a quartet of reviews for Sibohan Dowd’s THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY: “Grabs readers from the beginning and doesn’t let go … Just as impressive as Dowd’s recent debut, A SWIFT PURE CRY, and fresh cause to mourn her premature death,” says Publishers Weekly via Powell’s Books. Mr and Mrs Kirkus can be found at the same link: “This is a well-constructed puzzle, and mystery lovers will delight in connecting the clues.” You’ll also find the Booklist verdict: “Everything rings true here, the family relationships, the quirky connections of Ted’s mental circuitry, and, perhaps most surprisingly, the mystery.” Meanwhile, Norah Piehl at Kids Read has this to say: “THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY would be a compelling story even without Ted’s unusual perspective. Plenty of twists and turns, dead ends and false hopes make for a breathlessly fascinating mystery plot.” Kyrialyse at Live Journal likes Tana French’s IN THE WOODS: “A must-read. Mystery-thriller-sly bits of horror. Outstanding voice, outstanding characterization. So disturbing and so real that at one point I had to put it aside and remind myself that this wasn’t happening to real people.” Some lovely big-ups for Cora Harrison’s MY LADY JUDGE from her peers, beginning with Peter Tremayne (via Macmillan US): “Sister Fidelma would be delighted with her sleuthing ‘descendant’ – a new female Brehon named Mara … Well researched and written.” PC Doherty agrees: “An excellent historical novel with a most original leading character. Cora Harrison has wonderfully recreated the Celtic culture of Ireland in its mysterious twilight at the end of the Middle Ages.” As does Brenda Rickman Vantrease: “A lovely, balanced blend of historical detail and good storytelling. This book is appealing in every way: a likeable protagonist, a clever mystery, and a richly textured rendering of sixteenth-century Ireland with its fascinating legal system.” What news of John Connolly? “Connolly is a master of suggestion, creating mood and suspense with ease, and unflinchingly presents a hard-eyed look at the horrors that can lurk in quiet, rustic settings,” says Publishers Weekly of THE UNQUIET, while Answer Girl has the first review we’ve seen of THE REAPERS: “THE REAPERS is a special treat for fans of the Parker series, but also holds its own as an updated version of the classic Western, a story of hard men facing each other on the frontier.” A quick brace of hup-yas for David Park’s latest: “Northern Irish novelist David Park imaginatively alludes to these historical and literary antecedents from South Africa in the opening of his new novel, THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER, a sombre but totally engrossing portrait of post-peace treaty Belfast … It’s hardly the stuff of photo ops, but it makes for great reading,” says James Grainger at The Toronto Star. Cheryl Wonders agrees: “I loved this book. Immediately started re-reading it when I’d finished … For anyone thinking of dealing with the misdeeds of the past – seeking revenge, atonement, forgiveness, cleansing – there is a hope of freedom, but you can only find it in the chaos.” A quick one for Benny Blanco’s latest: “Black / Banville is a fine prose stylist with the bleakest of outlooks, as befits any winner of the “dark is deep” Booker. THE SILVER SWAN is a finely tuned psychological drama, but be prepared if you read it for the irresistible impulse to crawl under your bed that will follow,” says LW at Provo City Library Staff Reviews. Fionnuala McGoldrick at Verbal Magazine likes KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP: “I found it to be thoroughly intriguing – with a well written plot and humorous interludes … This book is absolutely fantastic and I would love to see it televised or made into a film. The storyline is so full of twists and turns that any viewer would be glued to the screen. The ending is completely unexpected … I was particularly impressed with the male author’s understanding of the female psyche.” Finally, they’re really starting to tumble in for Derek Landy’s sequel to SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, to wit: “PLAYING WITH FIRE is better than Landy’s first offering. Landy manages to write a dark gothic fantasy that is laugh out loud funny and also incredibly original, fresh and new. Landy has managed to do something that many authors have not: transcend genres. While this is first and foremost a young adult fantasy, it’s also a noir comedy and can be read by young adults and adults alike,” says Jamieson Villeneuve at the American Chronicle. Tasha Saecker at Kids’ Lit likes it too: “This was one book I was thrilled to get my hands on … A wild ride of a book, the battles are gory, choreographed and often funny. The book continues the strong sense of humour, laugh out-loud commentary, and vibrant relationship of the two main characters. Plenty of banter and wit as well as some deeper questions about life make this a winner of a novel.” Quoth Lupins Angel: “I prefer [PLAYING WITH FIRE] because the storyline is darker and more tense, and there’s more mystery in these books than there was in Harry Potter. It’s also the humour, Derek Landy would make a great comedian. He manages to make the tensest of situations laugh-out-loud funny, and does so at least twice in every chapter.” And RJ McGill isn’t about to rock the boat at Revish: “A fabulous series that seems to get better with each new instalment – the book is filled with biting dialogue that propels the action with the speed and intensity of lightning … From the ultra-cool skeleton to the action and scenery, each has been vividly painted to fully immerse the reader in Skulduggery’s world.” Make no (ahem) bones about it, people – Derek Landy is headed for Eoin Colferdom …

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “Enough good crime novels have been set in Ireland that the novelty value has well and truly worn off and any new thriller set here needs to be particularly compelling in order to be successful. Happily, Brian McGilloway’s GALLOWS LANE shows just how mature the Irish crime thriller has become … With its own voice and something interesting to say about society in the North, Gallows Lane is an enjoyable and absorbing read,” says Alex Meehan at the Sunday Business Post. Marcel Berlins at The Times agrees: “Brian McGilloway’s BORDERLANDS was one of last year’s most impressive debuts. Does GALLOWS LANE pass the feared “second novel” test? Easily.” Not to be outdone, the Tyrone Herald weighs in thusly: “A ripping yarn that scorches its way through an early heatwave ... McGilloway is carving out a thrilling crime fiction franchise in the Lifford-Strabane area and this second offering does not disappoint.” And then there’s Susanna Yager at The Sunday Telegraph: “Brian McGilloway once again captures the atmosphere of the Irish borderlands in GALLOWS LANE … McGilloway skilfully handles the tangled threads of a conspiracy surrounding an old crime, to make a satisfying mystery with an attractive central character.” Nice … They’re still coming in for David Park’s THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER: “Park’s multi-strand narrative proves to be an adept device for the deliverance of incommunicable truth,” reckons Jean Hannah Edelstein at The Guardian, while Emer O’Kelly at the Sunday Independent is very impressed: “DAVID Park’s seventh novel is not only powerful and written with a deceptive, elegant clarity; it is also an important commentary on the aftermath of civil war … THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER reads with frightening, chilling truth, another proof that art is the most relentless of all mirrors in society.” A quick one from Charlotte Evans at the New Zealand Herald for Ian Sansom’s THE DELEGATE’S CHOICE: “Sansom writes with a delightful sense of the absurd and pokes gentle fun at the pretentiousness of literary types.” A rather longer one from Brendan Kelly at the Sunday Business Post for Aifric Campbell’s debut: “THE SEMANTICS OF MURDER is an involving, exciting read, filled with well-drawn, credible characters and a plot that surges along with little hesitation and a great deal of style. The novel’s greatest strength, however, lies in Campbell’s acute understanding of the worlds of psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis … This novel belongs to the extraordinary, expanding tradition of story-telling based in the psychotherapeutic milieu.” And now for something completely different: “A dark fantasy novel about a young man who wants to become a powerful gangster, it’s very different in style and tone to my children’s books, but is written in the same straightforward, pacy style,” says IndieLondon about DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD. “This isn’t your ordinary cops-and-robbers mystery, but there is a page-turning yarn here with a startling, satisfying ending,” agrees Bill Sass at the Edmonton Journal Review. “The plot is excellent, with many twists and turns, and the technicolour cast of characters are as entertaining as they are repellent. With PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, [DB Shan] has produced a macabre, yet stylish, dark urban fantasy that’s more than worth the cover price for fantasy fans who like their strangeness to have an urban noir feel,” reckons the ever-reliable Alex Meehan at the Sunday Business Post, while Lisa Tuttle at The Times likes it too: “The narrative voice is engagingly cocky, the action races along, and there are some surprises lurking behind the familiar scenario … Many scenes seem recycled from violent crime movies – the massacre in a warehouse, the severed head in a refrigerator – while others are pure Enid Blyton.” Hurrah! Onward to John McFetridge’s EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE: “[McFetridge] has a gift for dialogue and setting . . . [and] is an author to watch. He has a great eye for detail, and Toronto has never looked seedier,” say the good folk at the Toronto Globe & Mail, via Amazon US. Over at Commonsense Media, Matt Berman likes Siobhan Dowd’s THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY: “Aimed at younger readers … this one scores on two counts. The first is the mystery: it’s tightly constructed and solid … The second is Ted, whose quirks are mostly endearing, and whose eventual success is so satisfying … For kids who like their mysteries realistic, this will be a welcome addition to a genre that, right now at least, is not exactly burgeoning.” Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Geraldine Brennan likes Siobhan’s BOG CHILD: “A captivating first love affair, a hilarious red herring and profound truths about politics and family add up to a novel set to win awards in the coming year.” A swift brace of big-ups for KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP: “KT McCaffrey’s sixth Emma Boylan novel is a mystery that reads as quick as a scalded cat, and is as prone to bare its teeth for a sharp hiss. With her sexy style and occasional bulimia, this investigative reporter is welcome at any crime scene,” says the inimitable Critical Mick, while Myles McWeeney at the Irish Independent (no link) is equally impressed: “In the latest of the excellent series featuring Dublin journalist Emma Boylan … KT McCaffrey maintains the suspense throughout, and casts a cold eye on the gloss of modern Ireland.” On we go to Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: “It’s written in a very cinematic way, with exciting chase scenes and fight scenes and inventive visual detail. I am so loath to compare books with Harry Potter, but – yeah, in that respect it does remind me of the HP books. But the other part that made this book fun for me was the dialogue between Stephanie and Skulduggery, which is wall-to-wall deadpan sarcasm,” says one of a Swarm of Beasts. Erica at Book Diva, meanwhile, loves the audio version: “I am listening to what is officially the Best Audiobook Of All Time. Really. The Most Completely Fabulous And Entertaining Thing I Have Ever Heard In My Entire Life Ever, No Exaggeration Or Joking: SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT by Derek Landy. Oh. My. Goodness. The story lends itself marvellously to an audio format, and the guy’s voice performing it (who is, curiously, named Rupert Degas) is absolute gold. Better even, his voice is platinum encrusted with diamonds and garnished with beluga caviar and French truffles unearthed by pigs in the french countryside.” Lovely … Just time for a quick pair for Benny Blanco’s THE SILVER SWAN: “A fast-paced, interesting plot, well-defined characters and evocative prose are the architectural underpinnings of THE SILVER SWAN,” reckons Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum at Book Reporter, via Streets of Dublin, while MADReads is also impressed: “Black’s nuanced grasp of human relationships more than made up for these failings. The suspense crescendos to the last page and Black, like the best of crime writers, kept me guessing to the end.” Finally, via the Macmillan US page for AMMUNITION, a quartet of big-ups for Sir Kenneth of Bruen: “It’s always a delight to discover a writer with an utterly distinctive voice…the words that best describe him, besides original, are outrageous and hilarious.” (Washington Post) “Bruen’s furious hard-boiled prose, chopped down to its trademark essence, never fails to astonish.” (Publishers Weekly) “Bruen’s style is clipped, caustic, heartbreaking and often hilarious.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “Irish writer Ken Bruen does the noir thing well. His men are tough, his prose is lean, and there’s not a single drop or morsel of sentimentality to be found therein.” (Entertainment Weekly). ‘Therein’ – now there’s a word you are unlikely to read in a Ken Bruen novel any time soon …

Funky Friday’s Freaky-Deak

It’s Friday, it’s funky, to wit: Marshal Zeringue subjected Declan Hughes’ latest, THE DYING BREED, to the Page 69 Test. Does the boy Hughes, along with virtually everyone else who takes the test, offer a variation on the phrase ‘Y’know, funnily enough, page 69 doesn’t really do the book justice’? Suck it and see … It’s not so long ago we were giving it socks about John Connolly not being nominated for awards. Now the guy can’t stop winning, the latest being the Crime Spree gong for THE UNQUIET. Huzzah! Karma, we call it – vote Connolly or get a CAP in yo ass … A small slew of Benny Blanco-related material: first up, an interview with the not noticeably modest Benny (aka John Banville) in the Village Voice (Q: Was there some surprise that it was THE SEA that you won [the Booker Prize] for and not THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE? A: “Oh, yeah, THE BOOK OF EVIDENCE should have won. THE UNTOUCHABLE [1997] should have won. That was a real Booker book. But that wasn’t even short-listed.”). And here’s Benny reading from THE SILVER SWAN and generally pretending he’s not raging that he has to write grubby genre fiction to earn a few bob at the oul’ scribbling … A couple of competition giveaways, people: My Village is giving away copies of DB Shan’s PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, while the Birmingham Mail is lashing out freebies of Scott Mariani’s THE ALCHEMIST’S SECRET … Catherine O’Flynn is looking for your vote for the Waterstone’s Newcomer of the Year in the Galaxy British Book Awards, for her debut novel WHAT WAS LOST, so get in there and vote early and often … There’s an interview with Sean Moncrieff, the author of THE HISTORY OF THINGS, over at the RTE Guide … There’ll be a fine crime fiction representation at the Wexford Book Festival (April 11-13), with Eoin Colfer, Derek Landy and John Banville turning up to wibble their cotton socks off, although Benny Blanco might have something to say about Banville being credited with writing THE SILVER SWAN … Apropos of nothing at all, although Ray Banks might get a kick out of it, here’s Bobby Gillespie talking about Arthur Lee’s Love (cheers, Karlos) in the forthcoming documentary, ‘Love Story’ … Over at Critical Mick, the Critical One interviews THE CAT TRAP author KT McCaffrey, and if you ever wanted to know about anal bleaching, KT is a veritable font of knowledge, apparently … Meanwhile, Gerard Brennan at CSNI grills THE LOST CHORD author Tony Bailie … Patrick McCabe’s crime fiction-ish WINTERWOOD has been short-listed for the Impac Prize, which is worth €100,000 … Staying with shortlists, and The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman’s TITANIC 2020 has been nominated for the Bisto Book of the Year shortlist – insert your own ‘gravy train’ punchline here … Finally, the vid below showcases Allan Guthrie doing what he does best – waffling at length about how his blend of hardboiled noir and black humour is never likely to sell many books, the prize-winning, self-deprecating swine. The book trailer is for SAVAGE NIGHT and if you don’t go out and buy it RIGHT THIS BLUMMIN’ SECOND, Allan will send Ray Banks around to taunt your children. Roll it there, Collette …

Mi Casa, Su Casa: KT McCaffrey

The continuing stooooooory of how the Grand Vizier puts his feet up and lets other writers talk some sense for a change. This week: KT McCaffrey (right) on catching the crime fiction bug.

The Butcher(ed) Boy

Why, you might ask, would a writer choose to take crime fiction as his or her subject? At what point does an author say, yep, that’s what I’m going to write about? Moi? I think I was about nine years of age when I got the bug. This would have been about the time I got to know an old-style cop named John Duffin from my home town of Clara, in County Offaly. Think ‘Heartbeat’ rather than ‘The Bill’, a time when local Gardai, like the parish priest, the bank manager and the school headmaster, were held in high esteem. A friend of the family, Garda Duffin liked nothing better than to chat about his involvement with local ne’er-do-wells.
  One of the darker stories he told concerned a local murder that had taken place in 1941. This would have been a decades or so before I was born. It kicked off in a somewhat comical manner.
  Bernard Kirwan, who lived with his younger brother Larry on a small farm in Rahan, five miles from Clara, took a notion to do a spot of armed robbery. With minimum preparation, he took a hacksaw to the double barrels of his shotgun, donned a mask, and held up the local postman. Through a contact in the post office sorting room he’d learned that the postal delivery included registered mail containing cash. Bernard could have shot the postman to facilitate his escape but decided instead to blast the bicycle’s tyres with both barrels, an action he hoped would achieve the same objective. He was caught of course (the postman recognised his voice) and was given seven years ‘hard’ in Portlaoise Jail.
  His time inside proved uneventful except for the fact that he learned the skills of butchery while there, a factor that would play a major part in subsequent events. Conditional release was granted four years later. He returned to the farm, intending to take charge, but his younger brother Larry had other ideas. Hostilities broke out and a struggle for supremacy ensued.
  Larry refused to give Bernard food or a wage for his work on the farm. Bernard, with no means to sustain himself, began to steal food and money. Fist fights, and even a knife attack, marked the brothers increasing bitterness. When it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse, Larry went missing. His girlfriend became worried when he didn’t show for a date. Friends who had expected to see him became concerned when he failed to show. When Bernard was questioned about his brother’s unexplained disappearance, he claimed Larry had gone to visit an aunt in Kildare. Inquiries took a little longer back then but within a few days it was established that Larry had never gone to his aunt.
  Foul play was suspected.
  Neighbours, aware of the brothers’ hatred for each other, noticed smoke coming from Kirwan’s boiler house twice in as many days. This they considered odd due to the fact that no cooked meal had been fed to the pigs. When it became known that Bernard had learned butchery skills, the Garda decided to investigate. He fobbed them off, saying he’d been burning rubbish, but he now found himself subjected to round-the-clock surveillance. One of those assigned to cover his movements was my friend Garda John Duffin.
  Knowing he was being watched, Bernard undertook long bicycle trips to the neighbouring towns of Kilbeggan, Moate, Tullamore and Mullingar. John Duffin, who carried quite a bit of weight, was forced to get on his bike and follow the suspect to each location and back again. At journey’s end, Bernard would wave cheekily to the fully uniformed and totally exhausted Duffin. Prefiguring The General many years later, Bernard liked nothing better than to cock a snoot at the law.
  Eventually, men working on a bog, less than a mile from the Kirwan farm, dug up a human torso. With what forensics existed at the time they were able to establish that it was the remains of Larry Kirwan. Bernard stood trial, accused of using his butchery skills to kill his brother, hack off the limbs, burn them, and then bury the torso.
  He was found guilty and hanged in 1943.
  I wasn’t the only person that John Duffin told this macabre tale to; he also related it to playwright Brendan Behan, who used it as the basis of his 1954 play THE QUARE FELLOW. I’ve never seen the play but then, I have no need to see it. As a young impressionable lad, I’d heard it first hand – related in far more graphic detail than outlined above – something that insured I would retain a fascination for the darker aspects of the human psychic for the rest of my life. I suppose I should consider myself lucky to have channelled this interest into my writing rather than anything, shall we say, more malevolent. – KT McCaffrey

KT McCaffrey’s THE CAT TRAP is published by Robert Hale.

The Monday Review

It’s Monday, they’re reviews, to wit: “This month we’re giving kudos—and the Tip of the Ice Pick Award—to Ken Bruen … CROSS is perfectly fine, better than fine, as a stand-alone novel, but if this review intrigues you, I strongly recommend buying all the Jack Taylor books and reading them in order. Mystery writing doesn’t get any better than this,” says Bruce Tierney at Book Page (no link). Meanwhile, Eddvick likes SLIDE: “At root a comedic serial killer book … The interest is not in rooting for anybody but in watching them collide with each other in a rocket of a plot.” From the sublime to Benny Blanco: “CHRISTINE FALLS is so very well written and as compelling a detective novel as I have read in years. Really the man is a genius,” reckons Becca at Becca & Bella of Benjamin Black’s debut. Diane Leach at Pop Matters is a tad more reserved: “Reviewing is ultimately a matter of opinion, and I cannot, in fairness, dismiss CHRISTINE FALLS because I disliked it. The plot is well-constructed, rolling along smoothly until it’s tightly balled up, every little thread knotted and tied off.” Pablo at Reading Rebels likes Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY: “My one word label would be awesome because this book was fun, exciting and thrilling. When you start to read this book you just can’t put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone.” David Horspool reviewed David Parks’ THE TRUTH COMMISSIONER in the Sunday Times: “Not the least of the achievements of this impressive, many-layered novel is its combination of the hardest of realities with a measure of poetry and of humanity.” Nice … Shane Hegarty at Present Tense was also impressed: “It’s a big subject, but Parks succeeds in not only keeping it under control, but also in adding something fresh to what might appear to be an already jaded subject … assured and engrossing for the most part – and I’d recommend it.” Over to the Funky Librarian, who liked Derek Landy’s SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: “It’s a complicated story, as is Harry Potter. But it’s got loads more action than Harry. Some good torture, breaking and entering, and a few beheadings. Overall, a really enjoyable story for fantasy / violence junkies.” Dick Adler at The Rap Sheet loves Ronan Bennett’s latest: “Another reason to love ZUGZWANG is the fact that Bennett – influenced by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins – decided to write this novel as a weekly serial … The rest is history – and great fun.” KT McCaffrey’s latest, THE CAT TRAP, has been getting some early big-ups: “THE CAT TRAP is a classic suspenseful mystery, brimming with malevolent and misplaced motivations and a welcome addition to the crime fiction reader’s bookshelf,” says Crimefic Reader at It’s A Crime. Uriah Robinson at Crime Scraps concurs: “This is a really enjoyable read with enough red herrings to satisfy the most discerning crime fiction addict, and some very topical subject matter … Highly recommended.” But what of Arlene Hunt’s MISSING PRESUMED DEAD, you cry? Cry no more: “While MISSING PRESUMED DEAD is action-packed, it manages to successfully combine a gritty crime storyline with a softer human story,” says Linda McGee at RTE Entertainment. From Arlene Hunt to Twenty Major’s debut: “Treading a frequently blurred line between comedy, farce, thriller and social commentary, THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX PARK (a very Colin Bateman-esque title that ) does possess an infectious energy … and a few cracking ideas,” says the Evening Herald’s George Byrne (no link). DB Shan’s reworking of AYUMARCA gets the thumbs up from Alex Meehan at the Sunday Business Post: “The plot is excellent, with many twists and turns, and the Technicolour cast of characters are as entertaining as they are repellent. With PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, O’Shaughnessy [aka DB Shan] has produced a macabre, yet stylish, dark urban fantasy that’s more than worth the cover price for fantasy fans who like their strangeness to have an urban noir feel.” Lizzy at Lizzy’s Literary Life likes Catherine O’Flynn’s Costa-winning WHAT WAS LOST: “That O’Flynn chooses a neat, if somewhat rushed and implausible (?) solution to the central mystery demonstrates that this is not her prime concern. In doing so, however, she delivers a satisfactory ending and a very readable, though extremely thought-provoking debut novel. I look forward to her second.” Finally, a veritable raft of big-ups for Declan Hughes, starting with Mel Odom’s verdict on THE COLOUR OF BLOOD at Book Hound: “Hughes twists and turns characters and events so much that even a close reader has to stay on his toes … And the writing is packed with detail, emotion and history. This is a gifted storyteller at work.” Over at Book Page (no link), Bruce Tierney likes THE DYING BREED (aka THE PRICE OF BLOOD): “Loy is an exceptionally well-drawn character, strong but not unnecessarily violent, introspective without being angst-ridden. The dialogue is spare and edgy, the pacing crisp; Hughes’ sense of local colour, and particularly his ability to impart it to his readers, is absolutely spot on.” Publishers Weekly, via Barnes & Noble, is in agreement: “This intelligent, often brutal thriller will have readers’ hearts racing from start to finish.” At the same link you’ll find Library Journal in big-up mode too: “Hughes’s abilities to craft a ‘Dublin noir’ crime novel and to expand the character of Ed Loy combine to make this a welcome addition to an eminently readable new series. Highly recommended.” Insert your own variation on the ‘All hands on Dec’ punchline here, folks …