The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

We’re celebrating the UK publication of Adrian McKinty’s FIFTY GRAND today, folks, and while it feels kind of odd to be giving away signed copies of a book that will be worth a small fortune in years to come, I already have a signed first edition, so I can afford to be generous. What’s rare is wonderful, right? First, the blurb elves:

Cuban cop Mercado has a score to settle, on behalf of a deadbeat dad, a ‘traitor’ who skipped free from Castro’s control to set up a new life working illegally in Colorado. He settled in a ski resort popular with the Hollywood set, where the facade is maintained by the immigrant cleaners and labourers who work for below minimum wage while the local sheriff is bribed to turn a blind eye. Hernandez Sr’s dreams of fortune and freedom came to a swift end when he was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Sworn to avenge his death, Mercado has some obstacles to overcome - not least getting out of Cuba, where visas are as elusive as constant electricity. Segueing back and forth between heat-soaked Havana and the icy luxury of the mountainside resort, FIFTY GRAND is an audacious thriller from an acknowledged talent - and an incendiary debut for a new hero.

  Nice. To be in with a chance of winning a copy signed by the fair hand of the maestro himself, just answer the following question.

Is ‘Adrian McKinty’ almost an anagram for:
(a) Kinky Hadrian;
(b) Drincky Nadir;
(c) Dinky Radical;
(d) Where, Exactly, is the Dignity in All of This?

  Answers via the comment box please, leaving a contact email address (using (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam-munchkins) before noon on Tuesday, July 7th. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Another week, another freebie giveaway, and this week the generous souls are Hachette Books Ireland, offering three signed copies of Twenty Major’s sophomore novel, ABSINTHE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER. First, the blurb elves:

It’s just days after the Folkapalooza concert and having saved the world, Twenty Major is looking forward to some R&R&G (Rest & Relaxation & Guinness) - but little does he know that someone from his murky past is about to surface ... Notorious Dublin gangster Tony Furriskey is calling in his marker. A while ago, he helped Twenty and Jimmy the Bollix out of a hole and the time has come for them to repay the favour ... or end up swimming with the Dublin Bay prawns. Twenty and Jimmy must follow a young man and his pals to Barcelona, where the stag weekend of Tony’s future son-in-law is taking place. Their job is to infiltrate the party and make sure, one way or another, that the wedding doesn’t happen ... In the city of Gaudi and Picasso, Twenty, Jimmy, Stinking Pete and Dirty Dave are more gaudy and pick-arse as they try to enjoy the cheap mojitos and Mediterranean sun, while making sure the job gets done. But Twenty’s Barcelona past is about to catch up with him.

  Nice. To be in with a chance of winning one of these signed copies, just answer the following question.

Was Twenty Major’s debut novel called …?
(a) THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX PARK;
(b) BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX PARK;
(c) THE PHOENIX HAS LANDED IN THE PHOENIX PARK;
(d) THE CORRECT PLURAL OF ALBATROSS IS ‘ALBATROSSI’, NOT ‘ALBATROSSES’.

  Answers via the comment box, leaving a contact email address (using (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam munchkins), before noon on Monday, March 23rd. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Christy Kenneally’s latest offering, TEARS OF GOD, sounds like a cracker, and we have three copies to give away courtesy of the kindly folk at Hodder Headline Ireland. First, the blurb elves:

Father Michael Flaherty returns to his island home to hide from the world, knowing that those he loves are in danger simply because he is alive. But try as he might, he can’t escape his past - and soon an assassin’s dying message makes him realise that he must face his enemy one final time to rid himself of the evil that threatens everything and everyone he holds dear. He finds himself in Jerusalem - the most volatile city on earth. As the Ghost, the malevolent director of the CIA, schemes to blindside the new American president and play Christians, Jews and Muslims off against one another and lead them to the brink of war, Michael Flaherty is involved in the much more simple game of who should live and who should die. And a Crusader Knight has just one question - ‘Where are the Tears of God?’

  No, God’s tears are not ‘the rain’ – that’s a whole precipitation-evaporation-precipitation dealio. To be in with a chance of winning a copy of TEARS OF GOD, just answer the following question.

Does God cry:
(a) tears of sorrow;
(b) tears of joy;
(c) the tears of a clown;
(d) from hay fever, mainly?

  Answers via the comment box, please, leaving a snail-mail or contact address (using (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam-munchkins), before noon on Saturday, March 14. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Adrian McKinty is giving away signed copies of his forthcoming opus, FIFTY GRAND, which I’m pleased to say is a terrific novel, arguably his best, and a book you’ll be hearing a lot about in the coming year. If there’s any justice in this world, it’ll win prizes galore and they’ll need aircraft carriers to keep up with the demand. That’s a big ‘if’, I know, and every writer needs a slice of luck and good timing, but someone once said that luck is opportunity meeting preparation, and McKinty’s done the preparation, and then some. I don’t often say this kind of thing, but trust me when I tell you that FIFTY GRAND is among the finest novels I’ve read in the last five years. Not that my opinion generally counts for sweet bugger-all in these here parts, but I think I’m right on this one. Only time, that notoriously doity rat-fink canary, will tell …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

This week’s super soaraway freebie thingy comes courtesy of the generous folk at Brandon Books, who have given us three copies of Paul Charles’ latest, THE BEAUTIFUL SOUND OF SILENCE, to pass on to you. Yes, YOU! First, the blurb elves:

In the ninth DI Christy Kennedy mystery, Kennedy investigates the murder of a colleague whose ‘the ends justify the means’ work ethic created numerous enemies. An annual Halloween Bonfire goes horribly wrong when a body is spotted in the middle of the fire’s glowing timbers. Identifiable only through his dental records, the victim is retired police Superintendent David Peters, an ex-colleague of DI Christy Kennedy. As Kennedy and his team settle down to a painstaking search through Peters’ cases, they soon discover that for the superintendent the means justified the end in solving them, and each case they review throws up another suspect.

  Coolio. To be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question.

Was Paul Charles’ last book, THE DUST OF DEATH, set in:
(a) London;
(b) Dublin;
(c) Donegal;
(d) Oh for pity’s sake, just give me a blummin’ free book for once!

  Answers via the comment box, please, leaving a contact email address (using (at) rather than @ to confused the spam-munchkins), by noon on Tuesday, October 7. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Another week, another freebie giveaway. This week your generous benefactors are Hachette Ireland, and they’re giving away three copies of Arlene Hunt’s latest offering, UNDERTOW. First, the blurb elves:

A missing boyfriend … a heavily pregnant girlfriend … just another ordinary case for QuicK Investigations. But the trail they follow suggests something far from ordinary. Who is Orie Kavlar and why has he gone to ground? What is the connection to the body of a dead girl found on waste ground in Sandyford? And what is his relationship to Darren Wallace, ex-gangland criminal? With their personal relationship at a new all-time low, Sarah and John are straining under the weight of their own problems, such as the murder of Sarah’s ex-boyfriend Vic. Vic was a dangerous psychotic, but murder is murder. So why won’t she accept John’s help? In no time John and Sarah’s investigations alert others to their search, and as they dig deeper into Orie Kavlar’s life, one man decides he has too much to lose to allow them to continue. Sarah and John are about to be caught up in an undertow of violence that will suck them into their most perilous case yet.

  Coolio. To be in with a chance of winning UNDERTOW, just answer the following question.

The coolest ‘hunt’ title of all time is:
(a) THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER by Davis Grubb;
(b) THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers;
(c) THE HUNTER by Richard Stark;
(d) MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN by Siegfried Sassoon.

  Answers via the comment box, please, leaving an email contact address, as always using (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam-munchkins, before noon on Monday, September 22. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

This week it’s the turn of Hachette Books Ireland to come up with the goodies and they’re offering three copies of Tana French’s THE LIKENESS for free, gratis and nuffink. First, the blurb elves:

Detective Cassie Maddox is still trying to deal with the events of IN THE WOODS. She is out of the Murder Squad and has started a relationship with fellow detective Sam O’Neill but is too badly shaken to commit to Sam or to her career. Then Sam is allocated a new case, that of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin. He calls Cassie to the murder scene and she finds the victim is strangely familiar. In fact, she is Cassie’s double. Not only that, but her ID says she is Lexie Madison, the identity Cassie used years ago as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues, Cassie’s old undercover boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: to send Cassie undercover in the dead girl’s place. She could pick up information the police would never hear and tempt the killer to finish the job. So Cassie moves into Whitethorn House, poses as a post-grad student, and prepares to enter Lexie’s world.

  Ooooh, spooky. To be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question.

Is Tana French as cute as:
(a) a button;
(b) a particularly cute button;
(c) a fox;
(d) a fox made out of particularly cute buttons?

  Answers via the comment box, please, leaving a contact email address (using ‘at’ rather than @ to confound the spam-munchkins), before noon on Tuesday, August 19. Et bon chance, mes amis …

Nobody Move, This Is A Review: Ken Bruen on PAYING FOR IT

Galway’s adopted son and sometime sex-god Tony Black (right) drops us a line to give us a sneaky and ultra-exclusive peek at the Emperor of Galway Ken Bruen’s full review of PAYING FOR IT, the entirety of which runneth thusly:

PAYING FOR IT might just be the most aptly titled novel of the year.
  Rarely has a title worked on so many levels.
  Gus lives in an Edinburgh far from any tourist brochure of this genteel city.
  Nothing gentle here.
  Gus is fucked, in every way which hurts, bumped from his job as a reporter, losing his beloved wife to divorce and a more-than-lethal obsession with a whisky bottle.
  He agrees to investigate the death of the son of his surrogate father-figure, his own father and Gus being embroiled in a very love / hate battle.
  And phew, does he ever buy into trouble – his previous blunders, smacking politicians in the mouth, are about to pale when he begins to dig into this case.
  East European gangsters will be breathing down his neck in a very forceful way.
  And nothing is quite as it seems.
  The last fifty pages contain shock on shock.
  The writing is a joy, in your face, with that wondrous dead-pan humour that only the Celts really grasp.
  The narrative blasts off the page like a triple malt.
  We can only pray that Gus is already preparing his next outing.
  This is one adrenalin-pumped novel that is as moving and compassionate as it is stylishly written. – Ken Bruen

Nice. Meanwhile, it’s still not too late to enter our freebie giveaway competition this week (see below), featuring – yep, you guessed it – Tony Black’s PAYING FOR IT, in which, ironically enough, you get the book … without paying for it!!! Oh, how we laughed. And then we stopped.

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Tony Black has his hotly anticipated debut novel PAYING FOR IT published tomorrow (jump here for a first chapter sample), and the good folk at Preface, out of Random House UK, have been kind enough to give us three copies to give to you. Yes, YOU! First, the blurb elves:

Gus Dury once had a high-flying career as a journalist and a wife he adored. But now he is living on the edge, a drink away from Edinburgh’s down-and-outs, drifting from bar to bar, trying not to sign divorce papers. But the road takes an unexpected turn when a friend asks him to investigate the brutal torture and killing of his son, and Gus becomes embroiled in a much bigger story of political corruption and illegal people-trafficking. Seedy doss-houses, bleak wastelands and sudden violence contrast with the cobbled streets and cool bistros of fashionable Edinburgh, as the puzzle unravels to a truly shocking ending.

Lovely. To be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question. Is Tony Black:

(a) Benjamin Black’s son;
(b) Ingrid Black’s brother;
(c) A third cousin, twice removed, to that guy Black who sang Wonderful Life;
(d) Not related to anyone in the world anywhere – he’s actually an orphan who needs to sell all the books he can in order to scrape together the cash to find his long-lost family. Sob.

Answers via the comment box, please, leaving an email contact address, using (at) rather than @ to confuse the spam-munchkins, by noon on Wednesday, July 23. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The wonderfully generous folk at Hard Case Crime – i.e., Charles Ardai – have been good enough to offer Crime Always Pays three copies to give away of the forthcoming Ken Bruen / Jason Starr collaboration, THE MAX, being the third in the increasingly weird ‘n’ wonderful pulp noir series by two of the finest crime fiction scribes in the business. First, the blurb elves:

When last we saw Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos, Max was being arrested by the NYPD for drug trafficking and Angela was fleeing the country in the wake of a brutal murder. Now both are headed for eye-opening encounters with the law—Max in the cell blocks of Attica, Angela in a quaint little prison on the Greek island of Lesbos ...

Erm, just as well this ain’t a family-friendly blog, eh? Anyhoo, to be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question.

Is the classical Greek poet Sappho most closely associated with the island of:
(a) Lesbos;
(b) Sapphos;
(c) never mind that oul’ shite, is THE MAX illustrated?

To enter, just leave your answer in the comment box below with a contact email address (please use (at) rather than @ to confound the spam-munchkins) before noon on Wednesday, June 11. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The wonderful folk at Penguin / Michael Joseph have offered us three copies of Andrew Taylor’s latest tome BLEEDING HEART SQUARE to give away, with the blurb elves wittering thusly:

‘If Philippa Penhow hadn’t gone to Bleeding Heart Square on that January day, you and perhaps everyone else might have lived happily ever after ...’ It’s 1934, and the decaying London cul-de-sac of Bleeding Heart Square is an unlikely place of refuge for aristocratic Lydia Langstone. But as she flees her abusive marriage there is only one person she can turn to – the genteelly derelict Captain Ingleby-Lewis, currently lodging at No 7. However, unknown to Lydia, a dark mystery haunts 7 Bleeding Heart Square. What happened to Miss Penhow, the middle-aged spinster who owns the house and who vanished four years earlier? Why is a seedy plain-clothes policeman obsessively watching the square? What is making struggling journalist Rory Wentwood so desperate to contact Miss Penhow? And why are parcels of rotting hearts being sent to Joseph Serridge, the last person to see Miss Penhow alive ...? Legend has it the Devil once danced in Bleeding Heart Square – but is there now a new and sinister presence lurking in its shadows?

Oooh, spooky. To be in with a chance of winning a copy of BLEEDING HEART SQUARE, just answer the following question.

Is Andrew Taylor:
(a) a devilishly handsome cove?
(b) a handsomely covish devil?
(c) writing all gonzo-like, because he – plot spoiler alert! – is in fact the devil who once danced in Bleeding Heart Square?

Answers via the comment box, including an email contact address (please use (at) instead of @), before noon on Wednesday, June 4. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Friendlier than Jehovah’s Witness dolphins, yon good folk at Hodder Headline Ireland. This week they’re offering you – yes, YOU! – the chance to win one of three copies of Twenty Major’s opus THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX PARK, about which the HHI blurb elves have this to say:

When Twenty gets an early morning wake-up call from Detective Larry O’Rourke it seems like any other day. But when he discovers that his friend, record-shop owner Tom O’Farrell, has been murdered and that his dying act was scrawl the number ‘60’ in blood on his chest and dial Twenty’s number into his phone, he begins to think something might be out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, time is running out for the people of Dublin. A plan has been hatched that is more sinister than seeing your granny tongue-kiss with an 18 year old and it all seems to centre around ‘Folkapalooza’, a massive free concert due to take place in the Phoenix Park. Soon Twenty and his pals from Ron’s bar find themselves plummeted into the crazy world of concert promotions, assassins, iPod-based defence systems, mad taxi drivers, office espionage and devious minds. A combination that will test their friendships, and their ability to cope with hangovers, to the limit. What does the number ‘60’ signify? Who is the ginger albino and who is he working for? Can Twenty, Jimmy the Bollix, Stinking Pete, Dirty Dave and the rest solve the puzzle before it’s too late or will Dublin succumb to the dastardly mastermind behind it all?

To be in with a chance of winning a copy, just answer the following question:

Is Twenty Major’s blog a front for:
(a) a prototype Irish neo-con vigilante group;
(b) Barry Egan’s fourteenth bid for world domination;
(c) the evil genius-style ramblings of an idiot savant dyslexic who can’t even spell the word ‘cnut’ properly?

Answers via the comment box, please, leaving an email contact address (please use (at) rather than @), before noon on Tuesday, April 29. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The CAP reviewing elves are mightily fond of Brian McGilloway’s GALLOWS LANE, the sequel to BORDERLANDS, and thus are delighted to announce that the ever-lovely people at Macmillan have offered three copies of said tome to be given away for free, gratis and sweet-piddle-all. First, the blurb elves:

Taking its title from the name of the road down which condemned Donegal criminals were once led, GALLOWS LANE follows Inspector Benedict Devlin as he investigates a series of gruesome murders in and around the Irish borderlands. When a young woman is found beaten to death on a building site, in what appears to be a sexually-motivated killing, Devlin’s enquiries soon point to a local body-builder and steroid addict. But days later, born-again ex-con James Kerr is found nailed to a tree – crucified – having been released from prison and returned to his hometown to spread the word of God. Increasingly torn between his young family and his job, Devlin is determined to apprehend those responsible for the murders before they strike again, even as the carnage begins to jeopardise those he cares about most. GALLOWS LANE is the heart-stopping follow-up to Brian McGilloway’s acclaimed debut BORDERLANDS.

To be in with a chance of winning a free copy, just answer the following question:

Is Brian McGilloway:
(a) a mild-mannered teacher by day and a hard-bitten noir writer by night?
(b) a mild-mannered noir writer by day and blood-quaffing vampire by night?
(c) only spreading that risible vampire rumour because he fancies some Brian-on-Buffy chop-socky action?

Answers in the comment box with an email contact, please (replacing the @ with (at) for your own peace of mind), before noon on Tuesday, April 15. Et bon chance, mes amis …

What Would JC Do?

A Minister for Propaganda Elf writes: Like all good things, people, ye olde Johne Connollye competitione had to come to an end, and the best we can say about the experience is that we’re not much older and just a smidge wiser, providing you consider that learning there exists out there somewhere ‘a fabulously ugly china figurine of the Guggenheim Bilbao dog riding a motorbike’ amounts to additional wisdom (cheers, Keiron). We also learned that Lisa B may or may not have John Connolly chained up in her basement or attic, and it’s entirely likely the case of Glenfiddich-flogging Josh Schrank was the fink who tipped off the cops about it (boo, etc.). Anyhoo, on with the winners: a trumpet parp please, maestro, for (a) Diane Lawlis, not only for making Jack Daniel’s Pecan Pie, but for shipping internationally; (b) Norby, for the outrageous flattery, and allowing the Grand Vizier understand for one glorious, fleeting moment how it must feel to be John Connolly; and (c) Fiona at the noenic(at)gmail.com address for displaying local knowledge with the M50 ‘stuck-in-limbo’ gag. To everyone else who entered, we thank you for taking the time and making the effort. Next week: Crime Always Pays runs a competition to spend one night with John Connolly, in Lisa B’s basement / dungeon, with JC facial hair optional. Meanwhile, if the winners would like to contact the Grand Vizier at dbrodb(at)gmail.com with a snail mail address, a copy of THE REAPERS will be winging its way to you post-haste …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

As one or two of you may be aware, a young whipper- snapper by the name of John Connolly has a new novel on the way, with THE REAPERS due on a shelf near you on May 15. Thanks to the friendly-as-a-hungry-Buddhist folk at Hodder Headline Ireland, however, Crime Always Pays has three ARCs of THE REAPERS to give away this very week, and it would have been four copies only that the Grand Vizier personally waylaid the delivery guy and half-inched a signed copy by said tyro, the Connolly dude, with an ambush that utilised a diversionary tactic involving two unicorns, a 1:52 scale model of Noah’s Ark and a wooded clearing surrounded entirely by liquorice trees. Anyhoo, quoth the blurb elves:

They are the Reapers, the elite among killers. Men so terrifying that their names are mentioned only in whispers. The assassin Louis is one of them. But now Louis, and his partner, Angel, are themselves targets. And there is no shortage of suspects. A wealthy recluse sends them north to a town that no longer exists on a map. A town ruled by a man with very personal reasons for wanting Louis’ blood spilt. There they find themselves trapped, isolated, and at the mercy of a killer feared above all others: the assassin of assassins, Bliss. Thanks to former detective Charlie Parker, help is on its way. But can Angel and Louis stay alive long enough for it to reach them?

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of THE REAPERS, just answer the following question:

Is John Connolly:
(a) the sexiest Irish writer alive;
(b) the sexiest Irish writer alive or dead;
(c) the sexiest Irish writer alive, dead, undead or trapped in some kind of supernatural limbo between this world and the next?

Answers in the comment box below, please, with an email contact, as the Grand Vizier claims he is way too busy right now to respond to all the emails individually, the lazy bugger. The closing date, by the way, is noon on Tuesday, April 8th. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The ever-lovely people at William Morrow are giving away three copies of the ever-ravishing Laura Lippman’s ANOTHER THING TO FALL, via the distinctly unlovely and unravishing Crime Always Pays, with the blurb elves outdoing themselves thusly:

The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, and their controversy … When private investigator Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she expects sharp words and evil looks, not an assignment. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing incidents since its arrival on location in Baltimore: bad press, union threats, and small, costly on-set “accidents” that have wreaked havoc with its shooting schedule. As a result, Mann’s creator, Flip Tumulty, the son of a Hollywood legend, is worried for the safety of his young female lead, Selene Waites, and asks Tess to serve as her bodyguard/babysitter. Tumulty’s concern may be well founded. Not long ago a Baltimore man was discovered dead in his own home, surrounded by photos of the beautiful, difficult superstar-in-the-making. In the past, Tess has had enough trouble guarding her own body. Keeping a spoiled movie princess under wraps may be more than she can handle—even with the help of Tess’s icily unflappable friend Whitney—since Selene is not as naive as everyone seems to think, and far more devious than she initially appears to be. This is not Tess’s world. And these are not her kind of people, with their vanities, their self-serving agendas and invented personas, and their remarkably skewed visions of reality—from the series’ aging, shallow, former pretty-boy leading man to its resentful, always-on-the-make co-writer to the officious young assistant who may be too hungry for her own good. But the fish-out-of-water P.I. is abruptly pulled back in by an occurrence she’s all too familiar with—murder. Suddenly the wall of secrets around Mann of Steel is in danger of toppling, leaving shattered dreams, careers, and lives scattered among the ruins—a catastrophe that threatens the people Tess cares about … and the city she loves.

To be in with a chance of winning a free copy, just answer the following question.

Is Laura Lippman’s husband:
(a) A Mann of Steel;
(b) Remington Steele;
(c) Some lucky dude who may or may not have something to do with a TV series set in Baltimore?

Answers to dbrodb(at)gmail.com, putting ‘Isn’t it time for a remake of Moonlighting?’ in the subject line, before noon on Tuesday 25th March. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

Those crazy maverick kids over at Maverick House have come up with another maverick idea – they’re offering the chance to nab their entire 2007 catalogue for gratis, free, zip and zilch. Quoth the blurb elves:

Maverick House Publishers has commissioned a special online survey to establish the reading habits of visitors to this website. The results of this survey will be used to improve the website and the range and quality of non-fiction books in our catalogue. The survey should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.
One lucky participant will win copies of our entire 2007 list (13 books).*
Any information submitted will be treated confidentially and will not be shared with any other party company or agency.
Click here to take the 2007 Reader Survey.

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

The elves are up to their oxters in a vat of their patented Elf-Wonking Juice to celebrate the second paperback release of The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman’s I PREDICT A RIOT, and as a result are utterly incapable of penning anything remotely compos mentis-ish about Bateman’s latest hilarious Belfast-based caper. And so it’s with a heavy heart that we resort to the cheap publicity gimmick of offering, in conjunction with the lovely people at Hodder Headline Ireland, a competition giving away three copies of said tome at a total cost to you, the reader, of zip, zilch, nada and bugger-all. The all-important question:

Is The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman officially referred to these days as:
(a) Bateman;
(b) Yon Double-Hard Bastard From Norn Iron;
(c) Priscilla?

Answers to dbrodb(at)gmail.com, putting ‘I love Master Bateman’ in the subject line, before noon on Monday, 19th November. Et bon chance, mes amis …

The Best Things In Life Are Free … Books

James Doyle gets in touch all the way from smelly, smoky London town, to suggest that Crime Always Pays – in conjunction with those Modesty Blaise-tastic folks at Souvenir Press – offer three copies of the reissued Modesty Blaise classic, A TASTE FOR DEATH, in a freebie giveaway. No sooner said than done, sir: if you – yes, YOU! – want to be in with chance of winning a gratis copy of A TASTE FOR DEATH, just answer the following question:

The author of the Modesty Blaise series is …
(a) Peter O’Donnell;
(b) Chris O’Donnell;
(c) Rosie O’Donnell.

To enter, just drop us a mail at dbrodb(at)gmail.com, putting ‘Modesty Blaise comp’ in the subject line. Vote early and often, people – the lines close at noon on Monday 15th.

Free Books? God Bless You, Andrew Nugent

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but you could always read to distract yourself from that rumbling tummy. Yep, it’s a Crime Always Pays giveaway courtesy of the lovely, lovely people at Hodder Headline, who are stumping up three copies of Andrew Nugent’s (right) Second Burial, which gets a paperback release on August 23. First, the blurb elves:

“Sergeant Molly Power of the Irish Police Force Murder Squad is on duty when the call comes in. A young African man, Shad, has been attacked and left for dead on the Dublin Mountains. He crawls to the nearest house and raises the alarm, but he dies later in hospital. Shad’s injuries are strange and deeply disturbing. Was he the victim of a racist attack, sadism, a punishment, or some mysterious sacrificial ritual? Inspector Quilligan and Molly Power launch a murder investigation like none they have ever experienced before.”

Oooh, spooky. To be one of three lucky readers who get their hands on a gratis paperback copy of Second Burial ahead of the sweaty posse, just answer the all-important question: What is the title of Andrew Nugent’s debut novel? Vote early and often, people, via dbrodb(at)gmail.com, putting 'Andrew Nugent free books' in the subject line. Oh, and don’t forget to leave an address where we can send the book. The closing date is Friday, August 3.