29 May 2015

BritCrime online festival


BritCrime describes itself as "an online crime writing festival" featuring "British authors who live in the UK".

28 May 2015

Corvus signs thriller by TCD student

A mature student studying for a BA in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin has been signed by Corvus for her debut crime thriller Distress Signals, which will be published in about 12 months' time.

Sinn Fein adviser wins crime fiction deal

A leading Sinn Fein official in Dublin has secured a two-book deal with Quercus after her debut crime novel was shortlisted for the 2015 Richard and Judy "Search for a Bestseller" competition.

27 May 2015

Author profile: Laura Lynott

Laura Lynott has been a reporter in Derry, Donegal and Dublin, and has covered major crime stories and court cases. The central character of her first crime novel, Paper Girl (2015), is a journalist too.

10 facts about Jack Higgins



1. Jack Higgins is a pen name

It is the principal pseudonym of Harry Patterson, who has written more than 80 books.

26 May 2015

Author profile: Jason Johnson

Enniskillen-born writer Jason Johnson is a journalist and crime novelist now based in Belfast.

He says his thrillers "focus on people facing extreme situations over short periods of time".

His first novel Woundlicker (2005) is set against the Northern Ireland peace process talks of 2004.

It's written as the verbatim transcription of a covert British government recording, as an unhinged misfit (codenamed Woundlicker) confesses to a series of brutal murders.

25 May 2015

Nyqvist and Brosnan for Dublin-based thriller


Michael Nyqvist, co-star of the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series of movies, is the latest addition to a strong cast for I.T., Dundalk director John Moore’s new revenge thriller. Shooting will begin next month in Dublin and other Irish locations.

22 May 2015

Second thriller from RTÉ's Sinéad Crowley

Sinéad Crowley's second thriller featuring Garda Sergeant Claire Boyle will be published on 2 July 2015.

Crowley, who is RTÉ's Arts and Media correspondent, introduced the character in her best-selling debut novel Can Anybody Help Me? (2014). The book was shortlisted for Crime Book of the Year at the 2014 BGE Irish Book Awards.

Crowley says there will be at least three books in the DS Claire Boyle series. This second novel is called Are You Watching Me?

Author profile: Don Cameron


Dublin writer Don Cameron's debut novel Marked Off (2015) was the winner of the 2014 Today Show/New Island Book Publishing Competition.

21 May 2015

A beginners' guide to Nordic noir


Barry Forshaw is the author of the authoritative guide Nordic Noir (2013) and also runs the Crimetime website. In this video he gives a quick tour of the Scandinavian crime fiction scene, from Sweden to Iceland.

20 May 2015

Three-book deal for Sam Blake

Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin, who writes crime fiction under the pen name Sam Blake, has secured a three-book deal with Bonnier Publishing's new digital-first imprint twenty7.

19 May 2015

Aidan Gillen stars in London noir



Aidan Gillen has been getting a general thumbs up for his latest performance in Still - though the film itself has had mixed reviews.

Patrick Marrinan's courtroom thrillers


Belfast-born writer Patrick Marrinan is a leading barrister, and one of Ireland's most prominent lawyers to turn to crime fiction. He worked on major terrorist trials in Northern Ireland before moving to Dublin, where he became a Senior Counsel in 2000.

18 May 2015

Author profile: Charlie Garratt

Donegal-based writer Charlie Garratt's debut novel, A Shadowed Livery (2015), is a murder mystery set in England shortly before World War II.

16 May 2015

Lehane and Banville on crime fiction

Declan Burke interviews Irish-American writer Dennis Lehane in the Irish Examiner this week about adapting Love/Hate for a US audience, and reviews his latest novel World Gone By in this morning's Irish Times.

For another taster before Lehane's public appearances in Ireland later this month, here's an extended interview we've come across. It was filmed on the roof of Lehane's Boston home.

15 May 2015

Blasts from the past... Seamus Smyth


Quinn (1999) is the debut crime novel by Seamus Smyth, not to be confused - as we did earlier - with Sheamus Smith, Ireland's former Film Censor.

14 May 2015

Sofie Gråbøl, Sofia Helin for Nordicana fest


Guests at the third "Nordicana" Nordic noir festival in London this June include The Bridge’s leading lady Sofia Helin and Sofie Gråbøl (Sarah Lund in three seasons of The Killing).

Author profile: Andrea Carter

Dublin-based barrister Andrea Carter is about to join a growing list of Irish legal eagles who have turned to crime fiction. She kicks off her "Ben (Benedicta) O’Keeffe" crime series with Death at Whitewater Church, due to be published on 3 September 2015.

13 May 2015

Gerard Doyle in Audies for McKinty novel


Irish actor Gerard Doyle's reading of In the Morning I'll Be Gone has been shortlisted for the prestigious Audies. It's the third in Adrian McKinty's series featuring troubled RUC man Sean Duffy in 1980s Northern Ireland.

12 May 2015

The framing of Harry Gleeson


The Framing of Harry Gleeson is a new true-crime book by journalist Kieran Fagan about an Irish murder case from three quarters of a century ago.

Matt Dillon in 'Wayward Pines'

Matt Dillon heads a stellar cast in M Night Shyamalan’s twisty new drama series Wayward Pines, based on Blake Crouch's trilogy of best-selling novels.




11 May 2015

Author profile: Jax Miller

"Hits like a beer bottle to the head" - review in Publishers Weekly
"Original, compelling, and seriously recommended" - Lee Child
Jax Miller is the pen name of Anne O'Donnell, the American-born writer now based in Ireland. Her debut novel, the crime thriller Freedom's Child (2015), has already made major waves on both sides of the Atlantic.

9 May 2015

How Sally Wainwright writes



Award-winning TV writer Sally Wainwright's credits include Scott and Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax - both were initially turned down by the BBC and ITV - and Happy Valley.

She has also written for BBC Radio 4's The Archers, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, At Home with the Braithwaites and Unforgiven.

8 May 2015

Life and death in the Garda sub-aqua team


Tosh Lavery's new autobiography recalls his personal life and a 30-year career in the Garda Sub-Aqua Unit...

7 May 2015

Author profile: Douglas Kennedy



Irish-American author Douglas Kennedy's work has been translated into 22 languages, and many of his books have suspense and mystery elements.

Jack Reynor to film 'HHhH'


Irish actor Jack Reynor is to star in the film version of HHhH.

French author Laurent Binet's award-winning 2010 novel follows Operation Anthropoid - the plan to assassinate Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World War II - and a historian's attempt to write about it.

6 May 2015

Patti Smith does Jo Nesbø's audio book

By Jake Harrington

Poet and rock legend Patti Smith is the inspired choice to read the new audio edition of Jo Nesbø's latest thriller Blood On Snow.



Frank Golden reads 'The Night Game'

Dublin-born writer Frank Golden reads the first chapter from his new psychological thriller The Night Game (2015), in this short film by Fergus Tighe.


5 May 2015

Author profile: Sheila Bugler


"Imagine a collaboration between Anne Tyler and AM Homes." - Ken Bruen
Irish writer Sheila Bugler's "DI Ellen Kelly" series of psychological thrillers is set among the first- and second-generation Irish in southeast London, around Lewisham and Greenwich.

4 May 2015

The Monday Grilling: Jonathan Dunne



In the interrogation room this week: Dublin writer Jonathan Dunne

His M.O.: short stories, sci-fi, fantasy, crime fiction, sports writing

What's under the spotlight: his debut crime novel The Takeover.

2 May 2015

Ruth Rendell (17 February 1930 - 2 May 2015)

An interview with the late author about her best known character, Chief Inspector Wexford, and how he was very nearly called Waterford.

Author profile: Victor O'Reilly

Irish-born author Victor O'Reilly's series of thrillers feature Hugo Fitzduane, a sort of modern Anglo-Irish knight. Fitzduane is a former soldier and war photographer who lives on an ancestral island estate (complete with Norman keep) off the west coast of Ireland.

The first in the series is Games Of The Hangman (1991):
When Fitzduane finds a hanged body on his island, it's ruled a suicide. But when the body of a terrorist is found with the same strange tattoo, Fitzduane is plunged into a firestorm of violence across Europe as he tries to expose the link.

1 May 2015

BOTM: 'Sleeping Dogs' by Mark O'Sullivan


Our May "Book of the Month":  Sleeping Dogs (2015).

The author: Mark O'Sullivan.

BBC 4 gets two more Nordic crime series



BBC 4 has bought the rights to several more Nordic crime series, and some of the shows may well end up on Irish station TG4 too.