News: Jane Casey’s AFTER THE FIRE Wins the Irish Crime Novel of the Year

Hearty congratulations to Jane Casey, whose AFTER THE FIRE (Ebury Press) won the Ireland AM Crime Book of the Year at last night’s Irish Book Awards. I can only imagine that Jane was a popular winner on the night, given that (a) the Maeve Kerrigan novels are very good indeed, and (b) this was her fourth time to be nominated, and her first win at the IBAs (Jane, of course, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award earlier this year, for THE STRANGER YOU KNOW). Writing in the Irish Times, Declan Hughes had this to say about AFTER THE FIRE:

“The latest in Jane Casey’s excellent series of police procedurals, After the Fire (Ebury Press, £12.99) sees DC Maeve Kerrigan and her colleagues investigate the aftermath of a fire on the top floors of Murchison House, a 1970s tower block in the Maudling council estate … Casey writes with a deft wit and immense skill … The Maeve Kerrigan books keep getting better and better.”

News: Jane Casey Wins the Mary Higgins Clark Award

Hearty congratulations to Jane Casey, who won the Mary Higgins Clark Award last night for THE STRANGER YOU KNOW (Minotaur Books) (the announcement was made during the ongoing Mystery Writers of America / Edgar Awards season). As those in the know will, y’know, know, THE STRANGER YOU KNOW features Jane’s series heroine Maeve Kerrigan, the London-based police detective who is one of the most compellingly drawn protagonists in contemporary crime fiction. Jane has been shortlisted for a number of awards in the past, but to the best of my knowledge this is the first time she has taken home the prize, and it’s fully deserved.
  Meanwhile, Stuart Neville will go head-to-head with some real heavyweights tonight – Karin Slaughter, Stephen King, Ian Rankin – when the Edgar Award for Best Novel is announced. Can he make it an Irish double? Only that most notorious of tittle-tattlers – time – will tell …