Launch: THIRTEEN by Steve Cavanagh

One of the nicest guys in the business, Steve Cavanagh launches his latest Eddie Flynn legal thriller at Belfast’s No Alibis on January 26th. Quoth the blurb elves:

The serial killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.
  Hollywood actor Robert Soloman stands accused of the brutal stabbings of his wife and her lover, but he is desperately pleading that he had nothing to do with it. This is the trial of the century, and the defence want Eddie Flynn on their team.
  The biggest case Eddie has ever tried before, he decides to take it on despite the overwhelming evidence that Robert is guilty. As the trial starts, Eddie becomes sure of Robert’s innocence, but there’s something else he is even more sure of - that there is something sinister going on in the jury box.
  Because of this, he is forced to ask: what if the killer isn’t on the stand? What if he’s on the jury?

  To book your free tickets, clickety-click here …

Interview: Steve Cavanagh, Author of THE DEFENCE

Steve Cavanagh’s (right) debut novel, THE DEFENCE (Orion), is a legal thriller featuring the New York conman-turned-lawyer Eddie Flynn. I interviewed Steve for the Irish Examiner last weekend, and very enjoyable it was too. A sample:

Assuming he’s not autobiographical, is Eddie Flynn modelled on any real-life lawyers?
  “The only real person who was of any influence for Eddie was Clarence Darrow,” says Steve. “Darrow was one of the finest advocates of the last 100 years. He was a man who could turn and win any case. Any case. He was that good. He also swung close to crossing the line into the criminal side of things from time to time, or so legend would have it.”
  As for literary influences, Steve cites a rattlebag of names and styles that includes Michael Connelly, Lee Child, John Mortimer and John Grisham, as you might expect, but also Brendan Behan, Thomas Harris and Spike Milligan. It was Irish author John Connolly, however, who finally got Steve writing his novel.
  “The Charlie Parker series is probably my favourite crime series and the fact that a fellow Irishman could write great American crime thrillers was a big influence. I thought that if John Connolly could do it, I might be able to do it. When I started writing I quickly realised that Connolly is a genius, and I am not – so I had to really work at it.”

  For the rest of the interview, clickety-click here …