Temporary Knucksline Book review: Craig McDonald’s The Running Kind Amici: The Running Kind by Craig McDonald … crime novelist Hector Lassiter is reunited with an old mate from prior adventures in the Lassiter series, Jimmy Hanrahan. It’s 1950 and too close to Christmas when Hector and Jimmy (a cop) are huddled indoors from an Ohio … Continue reading Craig McDonald’s THE RUNNING KIND is “a raucous ride”
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Union Club launch for The Insider’s Guide to Betrayal
Donald Finnaeus Mayo new novel is available HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIxGOezFHFE
Happy 10th Anniversary, Hector!
Ten years, ten novels... And a graphic novel coming out this Fall. Hector Lassiter has been through good and bad times. But tough times don't last. Tough men do! Happy 10th anniversary to Hector Lassiter and his creator, Craig McDonald, and many happy returns! Click here to view the Hector Lassiter Series and HERE TO … Continue reading Happy 10th Anniversary, Hector!
The Lassiter Decade Competition
Dear Readers, To mark the 10th Anniversary of Craig McDonald’s Hector Lassiter series, we are running a competition in which the authors of the best three reviews of a Hector Lassiter book posted on any Amazon website and live by June 12, 10am Dublin time, will win a signed copy of a Hector Lassiter novel! … Continue reading The Lassiter Decade Competition
Video extract from “The Starved Lover Sings”
This novel is O’Sullivan’s second, after Killarney Blues, published by Betimes Books in 2013. It takes place in a world transformed by disaster: earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, nationalist and corporate mergers, roaming wolves. The Starved Lover Sings is a fever dream of a world at the end of its rope. Our protagonist, and in many chapters … Continue reading Video extract from “The Starved Lover Sings”
Review of DEATH IN THE FACE: “The Last Man Standing”
Review by Marvin Minkler: @MarvinMinklerModernFirstEditions "Quite alone, yet somehow quite happy, Hector drove on through the sweet-smelling autumn rain, back to his home and family." This one true sentence, from the ending of the newly finished novel, Death in the Face, by Craig McDonald, an Edgar and Anthony Awards Finalist, brought to a close my … Continue reading Review of DEATH IN THE FACE: “The Last Man Standing”
#spycops – the tawdry facts that couldn’t hold together as fiction
Donald Finnaeus Mayo about undercover policing - in facts and fiction.
New release: “The Insider’s Guide to Betrayal”
The second novel from Donald Finnaeus Mayo, author of Francesca, is an unlikely love story between an undercover intelligence officer and an IRA activist. While the novel is set in the 1980s, its theme has been placed into sharp focus by recent investigations and court cases concerning the controversial practice of undercover policing. … Continue reading New release: “The Insider’s Guide to Betrayal”
Review – Craig McDonald’s ‘One True Sentence’
A wonderful new review for Book 1 in the Hector Lassiter series
I first heard about Craig McDonald’s series of historical mystery thrillers fairly recently via a review by fellow Ellroy scholar Steven Powell. In it, Powell draws some fascinating links between McDonald’s work and James Sallis’s ‘Lew Griffin’ mysteries – a series of compelling, unusual and beautifully written crime novels. Probably better known as the author of Drive (which was subsequently made into an excellent film by Nicolas Winding Refn), James Sallis is one of the most underrated – and one of my favourite – crime writers working to day, so this comparison was intriguing enough for me to pick up one of McDonald’s books.
McDonald’s novels follow the exploits of Hector Lassiter, a crime writer/amateur detective who finds himself swept up in some of the most violent and infamous events of Twentieth Century history. One True Sentence places us in 1920’s Paris, an historical milieu populated by bohemian artists and real life figures from ‘the Lost Generation’. Not long out…
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Interview with Patricia Ketola, novelist, author of DIRTY PICTURES
Patricia Ketola is interviewed by Petar Odak, editor and reviewer. Late blooming in the world of literature is not that rare: Toni Morrison published her first novel when she was thirty-nine, P. D. James when she was forty-two, and Penelope Fitzgerald and Frank McCourt started in their sixties. Still, it is quite unusual for the … Continue reading Interview with Patricia Ketola, novelist, author of DIRTY PICTURES
A new review of Craig McDonald’s “The Running Kind”
The Running Kind reviewed by Marvin Minkler of Modern First Editions No happy ending ever started in a bar. After the tumultuous events that took place on the world's stage during World War II, and after, in the last Hector Lassiter novel I read, and my ninth, Roll The Credits, expectations were a bit lower … Continue reading A new review of Craig McDonald’s “The Running Kind”
New release: A wildly original cautionary tale from Colin O’Sullivan
The Starved Lover Sings Fall under the spell of Colin O'Sullivan's distinctive narrative voice. O'Sullivan's writing is striking. Admire the at once precise and experimental nature of his prose, its energy and daring. Enjoy it despite its darkness – and be impressed with it. For bloggers and reviewers: please contact us to receive a … Continue reading New release: A wildly original cautionary tale from Colin O’Sullivan
“Silk for the Feed Dogs” at the Franco-Irish Literary Festival
This Friday, March 31st, the 2017 Franco-Irish Literary Festival begins and will continue right through the weekend. Organised by Alliance Française and the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Ireland, this annual festival celebrates the unique relationship between Ireland, France and other francophone nations through highlighting the work of their writers. With fashion as … Continue reading “Silk for the Feed Dogs” at the Franco-Irish Literary Festival
“The Death of Tarpons”: A journey into darkness
On the occasion of the new release of Les Edgerton’s debut novel, The Death of Tarpons, in paperback format by Betimes Books and in electronic format by Endeavour Press, we are taking a look back at what makes Edgerton’s first work of fiction so special. For something which, at first glance, seems so different from … Continue reading “The Death of Tarpons”: A journey into darkness
Three Chords and the Truth – Review
Hector Lassiter is one of the most compelling literary creations of recent years– a crime novelist who ‘writes what he lives and lives what he writes’. Lassiter was born January 1, 1900, and he witnesses some of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. Whether he finds himself at the heart of a murder mystery with the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris, or dodging the bombs and bullets with Ernest Hemingway during the Spanish Civil War, Lassiter is never far away from violence and intrigue. Three Chords and the Truth is the ninth and final novel in the Lassiter series, and, needless to say, it was eagerly anticipated by the many fans of the series.
Craig McDonald is the author behind the author, the creator of Hector Lassiter and the writer of five more novels outside the Lassiter series. McDonald began his career as a journalist and still works in that…
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Join Me at The Franco-Irish Literary Festival
I’m in mid-prep this morning. I’m delighted, if a little freaked out, to be participating in the Franco-Irish Literary Festival in Dublin at the end of this month with a bunch of exciting Irish and French writers, journalists and auteurs. There’ll be a film premier, an Yves Saint Laurent exhibition, readings and roundtable discussions (featuring moi!) throughout the three-day event. How did I end up among such an auspicious gathering of well-heeled intellectuals? Well, the theme of the festival this year is Fashion. E voilà, the French know a thing or two about both Fashion and Literature, and the Irish…well, the Irish can certainly write!
Copies of Silk for the Feed Dogs will be available for sale at the event along with the works of all the other participants. There will be time for some hobnobbing, earwigging, chin- scratching and tipple-sipping. Held in Dublin Castle, it’s open to the…
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Who are “The Painter’s Women”?
Fionnuala Brennan's novel about Francisco de Goya takes the fresh approach of telling the artist's story through those of the important women in his life. Who were these women, and what was their relationship to the great painter? Rosario, Goya's loyal but conflicted daughter On the eve of her father’s burial, Rosario keeps vigil by … Continue reading Who are “The Painter’s Women”?
Love and Death: What else is worth writing about?
Dearest Followers and Readers, If you haven't discovered Patricia Ketola yet, you are missing out on a truly original new voice. If you are weary of pre-formatted fiction, you simply MUST read Dirty Pictures! Patricia KETOLA’s flamboyant characters play a delightfully witty game where death and desire are intertwined. Rebellious, stylish and eccentric, like its … Continue reading Love and Death: What else is worth writing about?
New release: THE DEATH OF TARPONS by Les Edgerton
The Death of Tarpons was first published in 1996 and launched Les Edgerton’s reputation not only as an outstanding narrative talent, but as one of those writers able to break your heart with one sentence. Timeless. “Edgerton's first novel shines with wisdom.” —Publishers Weekly, 1996 “Facing his own battle with cancer, Corey John returns to … Continue reading New release: THE DEATH OF TARPONS by Les Edgerton
“Corrida de Toros”, a short story by Sam Hawken
"He wanted to be out of Mexico, and he never wanted to come back." This story is part of our anthology BORDERLAND NOIR, edited by Craig McDonald Read the story here: http://www.samhawken.com/?p=10948#more-10948
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