Appy Bird-Day To Daggy; and John Connolly Goes Posh

This morning I woke to breakfast in bed (well, coffee) served by the Lovely Ladies (right) and a rousing rendition of ‘Appy bird-day to Daggy’ courtesy of the Princess Lilyput. I may never have a finer morning again. I’ll leave the existential ruminations on turning 41 to another day, and just say ta kindly to everyone who’s been in touch with good wishes. Much obliged, folks.
  Meanwhile, a rare birthday treat awaits me later tonight, when the Dark Lord, aka John Connolly, is the subject of an Arts Lives documentary on RTE TV. Swish stuff – surely it’s only a matter of time before Connolly is elected to (koff) Aosdána. Anyway, I’ve seen the trailer, in which Connolly claims that evil exists, not as an entity but as the absence of empathy, which is a fascinating concept, and Connolly’s natural gift as a raconteur suggests that the documentary could well be a cracker. Quoth the blurb elves:

Shot in Dublin, Maine, Baltimore and Washington, John Connolly: Of Blood and Lost Things traces 40-year-old Connolly’s literary trajectory from jobbing freelance with The Irish Times newspaper to publishing superstardom on the sale of his first novel, Every Dead Thing, which launched his flawed protagonist, P.I., Charlie (Bird) Parker. The roots of the novel and its location go back some years to his coverage for the Irish Times of the murder of Sri Lankan prostitute Belinda Perreira in Dublin and a student summer spent in Portland, Maine … Featuring dramatised readings from his work John Connolly: Of Blood and Lost Things examines the sense of place and atmosphere in Connolly’s work but also includes a biographical narrative of his Dublin childhood and journey toward becoming a writer. The documentary features interviews with iconic American crime writer George Pelecanos; David Simon, creator of TV’s The Wire; American novelist and friend Laura Lippman, and fellow Irish crime writer Declan Hughes.

  Nice. The documentary goes out at 10:15pm tonight (Tuesday) on RTE1; if you happened to miss it, it’ll be available on the RTE iPlayer for three weeks after the broadcast date. Enjoy …

UPDATE: John Connolly’s THE GATES has just been nominated for the Bisto Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year, with Bob ‘No Relation’ Burke’s THE THIRD PIG DETECTIVE AGENCY nestling in there snugly too. Nice one, chaps ...

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Scott Phillips

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?
THE WOMAN CHASER, by Charles Willeford.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Sheriff Lou Ford.

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
No such thing, reading is a virtue, even reading crap.

Most satisfying writing moment?
Tapping out ‘The end’.

The best Irish crime novel is …?
Here I’m going out on a limb … THE MANGAN INHERITANCE by Brian Moore, an ex-pat Irishman turned Canadian who finished his days in Santa Barbara. It’s not even a genre book, and it sold damned few copies. Nonetheless it’s a fine novel, violent and creepy, and I once met him and told him I liked it and he told me I was pretty much alone in that.

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Any of Ken’s …. I suppose CALIBRE would be next in line.

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The hours. Best and worst both.

The pitch for your next book is …?
A guy walks into a bar.

Who are you reading right now?
Rudy Wurlitzer, Laura Lippman and Rick DeMarinis (if you have not read DeMarinis, what the fuck are you waiting for?).

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Read. Are you kidding me?

The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Ha ha ha.

Scott Phillips’ COTTONWOOD is published by Ballantine.

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Martin Edwards

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?
A FATAL INVERSION by Ruth Rendell. Absolutely brilliant.
What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Maybe Dr Watson. Quite something to observe genius at such close quarters. I’d have said Paul Temple, but I couldn’t cope with all those dry Martinis.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Agatha Christie and the much less well known Golden Age plotsmith Rupert Penny. Much pleasure, minimal guilt.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Last week (believe it or not) when I was at the CWA Dagger Awards and Lesley Horton announced that I’d won the award for best short story of the year, ahead of the likes of Michael Connelly and Laura Lippman. The stuff of dreams.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
I’m not very well read in Irish crime, to my shame, but THE SILVER SWAN by John Banville is a very good piece of writing.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
BORDERLANDS by Brian McGilloway.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst: The vagaries of the publishing business, especially the focus on celebrities and the depressing neglect and often abandonment of countless good ‘mid-list’ writers. Best: Readers and reviewers who really ‘get’ what I'm trying to do with my writing.
The pitch for your next book is …?
Dr Crippen tells how it really was
Who are you reading right now?
Simon Kernick’s SEVERED and Andrew Taylor’s BLEEDING HEART SQUARE.
God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Aaaaaghhh. Write. I think ...
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Entertaining; getting better.

Martin Edwards’ WATERLOO SUNSET is published by Allison & Busby

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 …

Do Not Go Unquietly Into That Good Night

T’was only last week that the CAP elves were wondering what the jiggery-poo was up with John Connolly (right) not being nominated for awards, particularly as award-givers seem to be particularly impressed by the literary stylings of Benny Blanco and Tana French this year. And lo! It came to pass that the interweb thingy Mystery Ink almost immediately nominated JC in its Gumshoe Awards, with THE UNQUIET up for a gong in the ‘Best Mystery’ category. Coincidence? Yes! The full noms for ‘Best Mystery’ runneth thusly:

James Lee Burke - Tin Roof Blowdown (Simon & Schuster)
John Connolly - The Unquiet (Atria)
Ariana Franklin - Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
Charlie Huston - The Shotgun Rule (Ballantine)
Laura Lippman - What the Dead Know (William Morrow)

Huzzah! Oh, and it’s nice too to see Laura Lippman getting the nod after the farrago that was the Edgar nominations. Seriously, folks – Benny Blanco’s CHRISTINE FALLS rather than WHAT THE DEAD KNOW? Like, puh-lease, etc.

A hat-tip to The Rap Sheet for the inside dope.

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 2,057: Laura Lippman

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?
MILDRED PIERCE by James M. Cain. I know most people don’t consider it a crime novel, but it does have accounting fraud.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Literary fiction. Seriously.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Finishing the draft that goes off to my editor.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
No way. I’m not well read enough.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
I’m going to cheat here and say A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR because a) Dennis Lehane’s parents were Irish immigrants and b) he has ridiculously good karma when it comes to film adaptation – MYSTIC RIVER, GONE, BABY, GONE, and now Scorsese is directing SHUTTER ISLAND. I don’t know why Hollywood doesn’t screw up Dennis’s books, but so far, so good.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The worst thing is working alone. The best thing is working alone.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
Memoirist in a slump returns to her hometown of Baltimore, thinking she might tease a book out of a little-known murder case and realizes her investigation will come at a great personal cost. Oh wait, that’s the novel I’m writing. The novel I’m publishing next month is ANOTHER THING TO FALL: Tess Monaghan collides with Hollywood, literally.
Who are you reading right now?
David Lodge, Martin Amis, Michael Pollan, Jacob Weisberg, Winifred Watson. I tend to read a lot of books at once, until one breaks away from the pack, and the Pollan is in the lead right now, followed by Weisberg’s THE BUSH TRAGEDY.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Obstinate, angry, inadequate.

Laura Lippman’s ANOTHER THING TO FALL will be published in March

“You Charm Us To Sorrow.” Irish Crime Fiction: A CrimeSpree Appraisal

Last week we wrote a feature article for the Evening Herald to a pretty tight deadline, which was why Reed Farrel Coleman’s reply to our query, in the wake of the Edgar nominations, about why Irish writers are becoming so popular in the US of A arrived a little late. Ditto the answer from Ruth and Jon Jordan of the indispensable CrimeSpree Magazine (right, clutching the prestigious Anthony Award for ‘Cutest Couple in Crime Fiction’), both of whom have been cheerleading for Irish crime writing since God was a boy. Herewith follows their rather generous two cents on why Irish writing is becoming so popular:

“The economic and political status of Ireland today is much in line with that of the time in which American crime classics were written. A poor-to-affluent generation living in a post-violent but pre-pacific time, remembering the religious ironies and icons with equal resonance and enwrapping them in a story like a taco bell quesadilla. The Irish story is updated with generations more of ennui and religious acceptance behind it, the precarious situation that is refracted by words of today flirted with, exposed and uniquely discovered by a group of writers who embrace the crime novel as the way to tell their story for all the world.
  “The talent for words is remarkable and embraced by a United States at once ahead and behind a continent we’ve pretended to understand for three generations. Our story, told with more history and depth. Yet Ireland is unique, as are the people writing of it in crime form. Different voices tell the story and make it stronger, more complete. You charm us to sorrow and make us examine where we are today.
  “The background of many of today’s Irish crime fiction writers includes not only a reading of ‘literary fiction’ but also almost all have found the literary brilliance within American crime fiction, be it recent greats like Lehane, Pelecanos, Connelly, Lippman, Rozan, Paretsky and James Lee Burke (to name a few), or the classics (Chandler, Hammett, Cain). They elevate their novels’ structure from the debut and almost always add a fresh voice to the genre. They don’t want to emulate as much as pay tribute to this often overlooked genre of fiction. Pay it forward and make it better, to use an American phrase. They see the possibilities of one flawed man/woman trying to solve a unique and usually violent problem. The writing jumps off the page and connects with the American reader because Irish authors use the entire environment of the crime and make it resonate.
  “The first author I fell in love with from Ireland is John Connolly, an Irishman who set his fiction in a relatively remote American locale. John has said he loved the work of James Lee Burke and many others. He grabbed a location he knew and made it his own. Last year’s work is remarkable in any time: THE UNQUIET is a true literary novel and I cannot think of many recent reads who express the joy of reading and the possibility it has to soothe, but THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS is a must-read for anyone who has ever loved a book and lost a loved one.
  “From Connolly I went to L. Welch, who strips bare any pretences in her prose to expose the baldness of story, and Declan Burke, whose approach to EIGHTBALL BOOGIE was as refreshing as THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE in its time. Ken Bruen’s arrival on our shores made everyone take notice. From THE GUARDS forward, Ken has infused admiration and anticipation for a writing style so unique it cannot be compared to anyone else writing today. Full of bon mots and cultural references that put you into the being of his characters, only someone so sharp of pen could get away with it.
  “America came full circle with the words of one Declan Hughes, whose third novel [THE PRICE OF BLOOD] is about to launch in the States. Instead of taking an Irish sensibility and applying it to the American detective, he brought an Irishman home who has been an American P.I.
  “The possibilities are just beginning and yet we’ve already come full circle.”

Hold The Back Page: It’s The Spinetingler Awards!

Yep, the results are in for the inaugural Spinetingler Awards, and the good news is that Ray Banks hasn’t won anything. Hurrah! The even better news is that the Crime Always Pays Grand Vizier, Declan Burke, hasn’t won anything either. Hoo-boy! The best news of all, however, is that handsome Scottish devil Allan Guthrie (right) copped the ‘Best Novel: New Voice’ gong for HARD MAN, while the radiant Laura Lippman got some degree of consolation for her lack of Edgar nomination by scooping the ‘Best Novel: Legend’ category with WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. For the full rundown of results, jump over to At Central Booking … (Hat-tip to The Rap Sheet).