On the Radar – Earlier this week our new crime books radar started picking up a signal from the Emerald Isle which has been gathering in strength over the last few days. Among this week’s haul of books we have two debut novels by Irish authors, and a crime fiction first for Eoin Colfer who is famous for the Artemis Fowl series for young readers. From the backstreets of Dublin to the mean streets of Belfast, this is the crime fiction equivalent of a finely poured pint of the black stuff. Best served chilled and savoured slowly.
Disappeared by Anthony Quinn
Retired Special Branch agent David Hughes disappears whilst looking into the closed case of Oliver Jordan, a man who was kidnapped by the IRA decades earlier. Shortly after, a former spy is bludgeoned to death – and, strangely, he has posted his own death notice in a local newspaper. Catholic detective, Celcius Daly finds himself tasked with solving a series of murders that go back decades into Northern Ireland’s paramilitary past. It looks like an exciting debut from author Anthony Quinn.
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Plugged by Eoin Colfer
Here Eoin Colfer steps into the crime genre with the story of an Irishman who finds himself in New York and a world of murder, kidnapping and corrupt cops. Working as a bouncer at a seedy night spot, Dan falls in love with hostess Connie, but when she is murdered on the premises his desire for vengeance triggers a deadly chain of events. His doctor friend Zeb mysteriously disappears and Dan finds his only ally is a female cop with a cop-killing habit. He’s also managing to make himself some particularly nasty enemies, led by former drug dealer Mike Madden. Released last year as a hard cover, it’s now out as a paperback novel.
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The Rage by Gene Kerrigan
Professional thief, Vincent Naylor is confident but reckless with it. He’s only been out of prison for 10 days and he’s already planning his next job, but storm clouds are gathering and the indicators aren’t looking positive. When Maura Coady calls her old friend DS Bob Tidey about suspicious activity in the Dublin backstreet where she lives, little does she realise that she’s inadvertently unleashed hell for Naylor and forcing her friend into making a deadly choice. This one’s also been recently released as in paperback format.
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Headstone by Ken Bruen
Well-loved on both sides of the Atlantic, Irish hardboiled author Ken Bruen is back. Here an elderly priest is almost beaten to death and a special needs boy is brutally attacked. Could this be the work of a group calling themselves Headstone? The local garda are left shaken by a series of seemingly random but violent events. Jack Taylor has come up against evil in its many guises but none has managed to scare him in the same way as Headstone, which intends to be the death knell of every aspect of his life with acts of violence occurring all over Galway. To fight them he realises he must relinquish even his last threads of humanity, but he may not be in time to stop the evil spreading rapidly across the entire country. Does Jack have the strength and determination to stop it before Ireland is beyond salvation?
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Red Ribbons by Louise Phillips
And finally we have another debut for an Irish author. In Red Ribbons, the body of a missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, her hands clasped together in prayer and two red ribbons in her hair. A second schoolgirl is found in an identical position in a shallow grave 24 hours later. Dr Kate Pearson is the criminal profiler called in to assist the police in their hunt for a serial killer. The more she digs into the case the more she feels that something feels disturbingly familiar, and the vital connection may just be the mother of a girl who was murdered 15 years earlier. Ellie Brady stopped talking when her daughter died and has been institutionalised ever since. Does she hold the key that could unlock the case? Check out the video trailer for the book below.
Pre-order now on Amazon
