“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

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Review: IN THE ROSARY GARDEN by Nicola White

The latest crime fiction column in the Irish Times featured offerings by Pierre LeMaitre, Kim Cooper, James Naughtie and Maurizio de Giovanni. It also included a review of Nicola White’s IN THE ROSARY GARDEN, which ran a lot like this:
Set in Ireland in 1984, Nicola White’s In the Rosary Garden (Cargo Publishing) centres on the discovery of a dead infant in the grounds of a convent. Given the place and particularly the time, Detective Vincent Swan has to proceed carefully as he investigates how the child was killed, and why it was left to be discovered in a convent, and matters are further complicated by the fact that this is not the first time that schoolgirl Ali Hogan has discovered a dead baby. White’s debut – the novel won the Dundee International Book Prize late last year – has haunting echoes of recent Irish history, and White has no compunction in pointing the finger at the patriarchal society that plays a significant part in the tragedies detailed here. The novel is by no means a polemic, however. An unusual but absorbingly twisting narrative is hugely enhanced by White’s creation of Detective Swan, a complex man whose own frustrated paternal instincts ensure that a highly politicised case becomes very personal indeed. ~ Declan Burke
  For the rest of the column, clickety-click here

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The Celts Are Coming: aka ‘Celtic Crime’

The good people at Severn House are publishing a number of Irish and Scottish authors under the banner of ‘Celtic Crime’, which – given that I am one of said authors – seems a rather nifty idea to me. The writers involved include Declan Hughes, Cora Harrison, Anna Sweeney, Caro Ramsey, Lin Anderson and Russel D. McLean.
  For more info on any (and, indeed, all) of those writers, clickety-click here

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Launch: THE TEMPORARY GENTLEMAN by Sebastian Barry

Miller Time

It’s not very often I report on publishing deals here at CAP, but this week’s news about Jax Miller (right) – aka Aine Domhnaill – is the stuff every aspiring writer dreams of. A couple of weeks ago, over at the Irish crime writing Facebook page, Aine posted that she’d just finished her book, and was already in talks with Simon Trewin about ‘film potential’. Today, in the Irish Independent, Aine – writing as Jax Miller – confirms to John Spain that she has signed a London Book Fair pre-empt two-book deal for FREEDOM’S CHILD worth ‘a substantial six-figure sum in sterling’. Suh-weet. Quoth Aine / Jax:
“I finished my novel on Tuesday, Simon Trewin of WME literary agents in London read it on Wednesday, signed me on Thursday and sent it to HarperFiction on Friday.
“The deal was finalised overnight on Monday and I hope I don’t wake up tomorrow and find it was all a dream.”
  For all the details, clickety-click here