“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Saturday, April 27, 2013

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” Alexander Soderberg

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?
Hmm ... There are so many really good ones. Something big, epic, huge. Norman Mailers HARLOT’S GHOST perhaps.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Pete Bondurant in James Ellroy’s AMERICAN TABLOID. Cold blooded but with a heart, he gets the job done. He’s a massive character that deserves every page he is on.

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Your Horse, an English equestrian magazine.

Most satisfying writing moment?
When you lose track of time and just write.

If you could recommend one Irish crime novel, what would it be?
I’m sorry but I haven’t read any one in particular.

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Sorry ...

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Deadlines are the worst; everything else is great.

The pitch for your next book is …?
Sorry, it’s all too blurry at the moment. Watch this space …

Who are you reading right now?
I’m not reading anything at the moment. I usually don’t read much when I’m writing. The last book was GOOD SOLDIERS by David Finkel and I’ve just ordered LIVE BY NIGHT by Dennis Lehane which is a sequel to the great THE GIVEN DAY. I’m looking forward to that.

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Write, of course.

The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Wide ... characters ... pace. Or just; I ... don’t ... know.

THE ANDALUCIAN FRIEND by Alexander Soderberg is published by Harvill Secker.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Little Girl Lost Finds A New Home

News arrived during the week, via the very fine Euro Crime blog, that Brian McGilloway will be publishing two new Lucy Black novels. To wit:
Constable & Robinson has acquired two new novels from crime writer Brian McGilloway, with the author moving from Pan Macmillan, where he was published by Macmillan New Writing, for the new titles.
  Publisher James Gurbutt bought two novels featuring series character DS Lucy Black.
  The first novel will be the sequel to LITTLE GIRL LOST, which sold more than 180,000 in its e-book edition.
  180,000 copies? Holy moly.
  I reviewed LITTLE GIRL LOST for the Irish Times when it appeared in 20011, suggesting that it was / is “an impressive statement of intent from an author whose reputation grows with each successive release.”
  For the rest, clickety-click here

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

World Book Night: Free Books For The Asking

It’s World Book Night, as you may already be aware, and to get into the spirit of the occasion I’m going to send off a free e-book of EIGHTBALL BOOGIE or THE BIG O to anyone who asks.
  All you have to do is email me at dbrodb[at]gmail.com and indicate which book you’d prefer. Simple as that.
 I look forward to hearing from you …

UPDATE: Thanks very much to everyone who got in touch yesterday to request books, and also to those of you who got in touch with some very kind words indeed. I’m working my way through the backlog as you read: if you made a request and haven’t received your copy yet, rest assured that it will be with you very shortly.
  Normal service has now been resumed, and THE BIG O and EIGHTBALL BOOGIE are available again at $2.99 / £2.99.
  Thanks again, folks – that was a lot of fun.

To Dundalk, James, And Spare Not The Horses

I’m off to Dundalk on Saturday, to take part in the inaugural Dundalk Books Festival, and I’m very much looking forward to it. That’s in part because it’s always good to get the opportunity to talk books, but also because I’ll be doing so in the company of two of the country’s finest writers, Declan Hughes (right) and Niamh O’Connor.
  The event runs from 1-3pm on Saturday, April 27th and takes place at The Tain Theatre in Dundalk, where we’ll be interviewed by Gerry Kelly of LMFM, read a little from our books, breathe fire and roll a few tumbles. Just another Saturday afternoon, then.
  Other writers contributing to the Festival are Christine Dwyer-Hickey, Claudia Carroll, Sarah Webb and Catherine Dunne.
  For all the details, clickety-click here
  Incidentally, Declan Hughes’ play ‘Digging for Fire’ is enjoying a revival at the Project Arts Centre right now, and runs until May 4th. I saw the play (which is twenty years old this year) as a read-through a couple of years ago, and thought it was brilliantly prophetic of Ireland’s post-boom landscape, even if it was speaking very much about its own time. If you get a chance to see it, you should – apart from everything else, it’s not every day you get to see a play that takes its title from a Pixies song.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Red Sky In Early Evening

If you’re going to be around Dublin city centre next Thursday, April 25th, you could do a lot worse than get along to Dubray Books on Grafton Street at 6.30pm, where Paul Lynch will be launching his debut novel, RED SKY IN MORNING (Quercus).
  Opening in Donegal in 1832, the novel follows land labourer Coll Coyle as he suffers the consequences of a single ill-judged act of rash violence. It’s a compelling tale, not least because of the power of the language, which put me in mind of Cormac McCarthy’s early work. There’s also a kind of epic, cinematic sweep to the events, which shouldn’t really be surprising – Paul Lynch was for many moons the film critic for the Sunday Tribune.
  I know Paul, so you may want to take my opinion with a pinch of salt, but I think RED SKY is a terrific piece of work. I particularly liked the tone, which seems to be pitched somewhere between the bleak fatalism of noir and the Fate-hounded tales of classical Greek tragedy.
  So there it is. RED SKY IN MORNING by Paul Lynch: it’s early days still, but I’d imagine it’ll be hailed as one of the most impressive Irish debuts of the year.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Year Of La French, Part II

I’ve had good reason to congratulate Tana French in the past, and no doubt I’ll be doing so many times in the future, but for now let me congratulate her on winning the LA Times’ Book Prize for Best Mystery / Thriller with BROKEN HARBOUR (and a hat-tip to Joe Long in LA for the early info yesterday afternoon).
  Irish crime writers have fared well at the LA Times’ awards in recent years. Stuart Neville won for his debut, THE TWELVE (aka THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST), and Stuart was also shortlisted for COLLUSION – Eoin Colfer was also shortlisted in the same year, for PLUGGED. Tana French herself was previously shortlisted, for FAITHFUL PLACE.
  The LA Times’ gong is the second Tana has picked up for BROKEN HARBOUR, after the Irish Book Awards gave her the nod in the Best Crime Fiction category last year, and she’s currently shortlisted for the Strand Critics’ Award. Given the way Tana’s debut IN THE WOODS swept the boards, and that BROKEN HARBOUR is in my opinion a superior book, 2013 could very well turn out to be another Year of the French. Here at CAP Towers, we’ll be keeping our collective fingers crossed …