Event: Something Wicked 2017

Strangers Things Have Happened

Hearty congrats to Michael Russell, whose THE CITY OF STRANGERS has been shortlisted for the CWA’s Historical Dagger award. Quoth the judges:

Having already brought 1930s Dublin and Danzig vividly to life in his outstanding debut THE CITY OF SHADOWS, Russell does the same for New York in a sequel that’s even better. The unique complexity of Ireland’s divided loyalties and enmities on the eve of the Second World War is explored with unusual clarity and intelligence, and there are plenty of thrills and spills too.

  Very nice indeed. The winner will be announced on June 30th; for all the details, and the full shortlist, clickety-click here …
  For more on THE CITY OF STRANGERS, clickety-click here …

Strangers’ Dangers

Sean Farrell reviewed Michael Russell’s THE CITY OF STRANGERS (Avon) in the Irish Independent last Saturday, and was very complimentary in the process. The gist:

“As before, Russell captures the time and the mood superbly, from the novel and exhilarating experience of flying transatlantic, to the atmosphere in the US as war beckons. It is a period when the USA, and New York in particular, harbours tens of thousands of Old IRA and many more exiles and sympathisers opposed to Eamon de Valera’s Ireland and all it stands for.
  “As pro-IRA, pro-German and isolationist groups increase pressure for the US to remain neutral in any conflict, the World’s Fair itself is dominated physically by the rival pavilions of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both offering different and unappetising visions of the future. The sense of Ireland, as a small and vulnerable nation, alone in this situation, is very well conveyed.” ~ Sean Farrell

  It may well be nothing more than coincidence, but there appears to be an interesting trend developing in Irish crime and mystery writing, in which a handful of authors are engaging with Ireland’s historical relationship with Germany. Stuart Neville’s RATLINES is the best known, but there’s also Joe Joyce’s ECHOLAND. JJ Toner’s THE BLACK ORCHESTRA is a thriller set in Germany during WWII, while Cora Harrison’s CROSS OF VENGEANCE, set in the 15th century, turns on the murder of a German pilgrim, an evangelical devotee of Martin Luther.
  For the full review of THE CITY OF STRANGERS, clickety-click here …

Stranger Danger

Michael Russell follows up last year’s debut THE CITY OF SHADOWS with another title featuring Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie, THE CITY OF STRANGERS (Avon) – and a very handsome cover it is, too. Quoth the blurb elves:

“The past didn’t only come up at you out of the ground in Ireland; it walked around the streets following you, and if you turned round to complain it spat in your face.”
  New York, 1939: A city of hope. A city of opportunity. A city hiding dark secrets …
  A brutal murder in an affluent suburb of Dublin and the unexplained death of an Irish diplomat in Manhattan … Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie is sent to America to bring a killer to justice, but his mission soon becomes part of an increasingly personal struggle.
  A chance encounter with an old friend draws him deep into a network of conspiracy, espionage and terror with disturbing connections to home. When he suddenly becomes part of an Irish woman’s bid for freedom from the clutches of a corrupt Manhattan power-broker, Stefan discovers that the war that is looming in Europe is already being played out on the streets of New York, with deadly consequences.
  In a time when people must make a stand for what they believe in, willingly or not, the stakes for Stefan Gillespie, and everything he holds dear, couldn’t be higher.

  Michael will be appearing at ‘Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival’ in Trinity College at the end of November. Meanwhile, for more on Michael and his novels, clickety-click here …

Is This A Pair Of Daggers I See Before Me?

Hearty congratulations to Michael Russell and Stuart Neville, both of whom were longlisted for a CWA Dagger Award last week. Michael’s THE CITY OF SHADOWS has been listed for the John Creasey Dagger, which is awarded for ‘the year’s best crime novel by a previously unpublished author’ – i.e., the debut dagger. Stuart, meanwhile, has been nominated for RATLINES in the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger category – it’s not the first time Stuart has been nominated for an award in 2013, and I strongly suspect that it won’t be the last.
  For all the details, clickety-click here …

The French Connection

You won’t have noticed, of course, but yours truly and his long-suffering family went off on holidays at the start of July, swanning down to the Cote d’Azur for a fortnight of sun, fun, good food and frolics (sample of said frolics, right, taken on the prom in Monaco).
  To be honest, I’m not the best of it yet – I’m still struggling in low gear and trying to get back into the swing of things, which is why this space will very probably remain quiet for the next few days. That said, I should really kick-start myself: I missed a host of stuff while I was away, including a couple of CWA longlist nominations for Stuart Neville and Michael Russell, the announcement of launches for novels by Louise Phillips and Joe Joyce (both of which appear to be launching on August 7th, which is a pity), and the very quiet release of CUT by Frank McGrath, which I suspect will be a crime novel a cut (oh yes) above the ordinary.
  It was a good fortnight, though, a goodly chunk of which was spent on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean with a notebook (and perhaps a cold beer or two) on the table, pen in hand, sketching out the next book. All very pleasant, of course, but I’ve been putting off said book for more than a few months now, and I need to buckle down and write it. I’m dreading the prospect of starting it, because it seems forever since I began writing a new book, and I seem to have forgotten how to do so. Happily enough, that’s generally the case, and a couple of weeks of eating my eyebrows in front of a blank page should soon sort that out.
  Anyway, it’s good to be back. Everyone else well, I trust?

Out Of The Past

Brendan John Sweeney launches his debut novel, ONCE IN ANOTHER WORLD (New Island), at Hodges Figgis in Dublin at 6.30pm on Monday, June 10th. Quoth the blurb elves:

Dublin, March 1937. Holland, an idealistic young IRA recruit, is offered a strange assignment. He is told to guard and spy on a sinister Hungarian businessman and Sabine his secretary – a Jewish refugee.
  The mission tests Holland’s loyalties and his idealism to the utmost and ends with a sordid shooting match in a field in England. Holland finds himself fleeing with Sabine into the depths of the Irish countryside, where treacherous swamps and dense woods protect them from their pursuers. An intense love affair between two young people from vastly different worlds suddenly becomes possible.
  But Holland’s closest friend in the Movement knows his mind too well, and seeks him out, leading to a confrontation as fateful and tragic as any Irish myth.

  I’ve been struck lately by the number of Irish writers who are writing historical crime fiction. Apart from Brendan John Sweeney, we’ve had in the last year or so Michael Russell (THE CITY OF SHADOWS), Kevin McCarthy (IRREGULARS), Benjamin Black (HOLY ORDERS), William Ryan (THE TWELFTH DEPARTMENT), Joe Joyce (ECHOLAND), Adrian McKinty (I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET), Patrick McGinley (COLD SPRING), Conor Brady (A JUNE OF ORDINARY MURDERS) and Stuart Neville (RATLINES) – and of course, the doyenne of them all, Cora Harrison (LAWS IN CONFLICT).
  I’m not sure what that means, or if it needs to mean anything, but there may well be a PhD in it for anyone who can figure out (or invent a plausible enough reason) as to why so many Irish crime novelists are delving into the past for inspiration.

Life’s A Riot With Spy vs Spy

Suddenly it’s all about the spies in Irish crime writing. Last year we had Stuart Neville’s RATLINES, Joseph Hone’s GOODBYE AGAIN and Michael Russell’s THE CITY OF SHADOWS; this year we’ve had Kevin Brophy’s ANOTHER KIND OF COUNTRY, and we’re looking forward to Brendan John Sweeney’s ONCE IN ANOTHER WORLD and Joe Joyce’s ECHOLAND.
  Joe Joyce has previously published two very well received crime novels, and ECHOLAND (Liberties Press), which will be published in August, sounds like it could be a cracker. Quoth the blurb elves:

Joe Joyce’s ECHOLAND portrays a nervous and divided Dublin. Some see Britain as an ally, others look to Germany for a hopeful future, while some wish to remain as neutral as possible. In this atmosphere of edgy uncertainty, a young lieutenant, Paul Duggan, is drafted into the army’s intelligence division, G2, and put on the German desk. Paul delves into the double-dealing worlds of spies and politics, where ruthlessness, deviousness and occasional violence prevail, before confronting a surprising secret that challenges everything he has grown up believing.