The super-talented writer and all round nice guy, John Connolly was in my local bookshop yesterday so I popped in for a blether.
This reminded me of a book I reviewed for Crimesquad recently - and here it is ...
Down These Green Streets: Irish crime writing in the 21st
Century edited by Declan Burke
Synopsis
A generation of Irish
crime writers has emerged onto the international stage in the last decade,
among them John Connolly, Tana French, Eoin McNamee, Gene Kerrigan, Arlene
Hunt, Alan Glynn, Declan Hughes, Jane Casey and Ken Bruen. Down These Green Streets: Irish crime writing in the 21st
Century charts the evolution of the Irish crime novel since the inception
of the Irish state through a series of essays, interviews, personal testimonies
and short stories, offering the writers’ perspective on Irish crime writing in
fiction, non-fiction, film and theatre.
Review
John Connolly was my
introduction to Irish crime fiction some ten years ago – my gateway drug if you
will, and he offers a fascinating essay detailing among other things, why he
chose to set his novels in the US. Adrian McKinty and Brian McGilloway offer
views from the north and the impact of the troubles on their desire to write. Declan
Hughes talks about Irish identity and
links with America. Ken Bruen in “The Houston Room” has delivered a short story
which will be an emotional punch in the gut to devotees of the genre.
There is however, more
...much more.
Throughout this process
Declan Burke displays himself to be a very generous fellow indeed. A writer
with talent to match anyone in the book, with his only contribution to the
collection (introduction aside) he gives John Banville an opportunity to answer
his critics who have accused him of literary snobbery. As a follower of his
excellent blog, Crime Always Pays. I know Declan to be an articulate and
thoughtful advocate of the genre and I would have enjoyed some of his own
thoughts to be included in the book (but then that’s the problem with being the
editor).
Down these Green Streets
is not a book to gallop through. It’s one to savour and ponder the points
raised by some of the keenest minds writing in fiction today. It is in turns
discursive, instructive and entertaining and is never less than fascinating.
This needs to be in every crime writing fan’s library, regardless of the hue of
their preferences. The Scandinavians need to have a good look at their royalty
statements; the Irish are here!
To buy (and you know you wanna) simply go HERE
Amazon also have availability, but they're getting too powerful for my liking. Spread your cash around, people.
Laters
I never really thought about Irish crime novels as a specific genre. I know I like them (movies too). I also have a slight obsession with stories about the troubles.
ReplyDeleteYou've named a few authors there I'm not familiar with, but will likely check out. Thanks.
I picked up Tana's book, "In the Woods" on your recommendation. Excellent. We do have to make a concerted effort to spread the wealth when it comes to our book stores. It's getting more difficult for the Indies to make it, but perhaps the failure of some big stores, whose name shall not be Borders mentioned, will help us return to the times when we popped into a local shop to browse the pages, grab a cup of tea or coffee, maybe even enjoy a local musician or poet. I miss that.
ReplyDeleteHey LG - not sure how I missed the fact you'd left a message. I'd blame my advancing years. Tell you what, that book is chock full of great writers.
ReplyDeleteMarley - you are so right. You can't beat a well run indie bookshop. Whenever I find one I think I've died and gone to heaven.