Mystery Weekend Roundup for March 16, 2014

Celebrate St Patrick's Day with Some Irish Crime Fiction

St Patrick's Day is upon us, but before you head out for the parades, dig into a meal of ham, potatoes and cabbage, or down another Guinness, I'd like to talk to you. You're missing out on some of the best things Ireland has to offer. I'm not talking about the beer, or the whiskey, or even the vastly improved food.

I'm talkin' about the crime fiction!

 It's booming, and you're missing out if you haven't read Brian McGilloway, Tana French, Declan Hughes, and Jane Casey, among others. This is the Golden Age of Irish Crime Fiction, according to an article in the Irish Times. And although the Irish have a reputation for exaggeration, this claim is dead to rights.

Some of the fiction focuses on the difficult history under British occupation, but many new writers spotlight "The Troubles", as they're called in Ireland and also the recent economic recession that struck hard among the working class.

"Crime fiction has taken off in Ireland over the past few years with a number of our best writers winning awards and making an impact on the international scene," says Brian McGilloway. Check out his list of the 10 Best Modern Irish Crime Novels, featured in The Guardian.

Mystery Readers International Magazine devoted an entire issue to Irish Crime Fiction in the 21st Century.

And Declan Burke, who writes one of the best blogs around on Irish Crime Fiction, featured his own list of favorites on his Saint Patrick's Day Massacre post. By the way, he's no slacker when it comes to story telling. According to Brian McGilloway, Burke's novel The Big O  "recalls Elmore Leonard at his best".

Want more suggestions? Check out Amazon's top 100 Irish Crime Fiction list right here.

And crack on some fierce Irish crime fiction, lest someone think you're an eejit.

Mystery Weekend Roundup for March 2, 2014

Book Giveaways

Interested in a free book? Who isn't? Check out this link on Goodreads, where you can enter drawings to win a book. They have several categories, including Popular Authors and Ending Soon. Even if you don't win, it's a great way to discover new and emerging authors.

And seeing that St. Patrick's Day in just a couple of weeks away, you might want to check out the Irish Crime Bookshelf. Ireland has seen the emergence of some great talent in crime fiction during the past few years.


Winners of The Lovey Awards

A hearty congratulations to all the winners of the Lovey Awards, handed out in Chicago during the latest Love Is Murder Mystery Writers Conference. I was particularly glad to see that J. Michael Major won for Best First Novel with One Man's Castle (which I've recently started reading). Check out the list of all the winners at Janet Rudolph's excellent blog, Mystery Readers Inc.




Faulkner Interview, The Art of Fiction, From The Paris Review (1956)

It's been a while since I've read this and it well worth reading every so often. Faulkner's witty responses in between his serious commentary are a lot of fun, like this answer on the difficulty of understanding his novels.

Interviewer: Some people say they can't understand your writing, even after they read it two or three times. What approach would you suggest for them?

Faulkner: Read it four times.


And then there's this gem, on what a writer needs to write:

So the only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost. All the wrong environment will do is run his blood pressure up; he will spend more time being frustrated or outraged. My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whiskey.

Keep it simple...and keep writing. Here's the full interview, from the Paris Review.


Humorous Definition of a Cozy Mystery (And one more reason to love The Big Bang Theory)

Actor Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, is a big fan of mystery novels, in particular the "cozy". Who knew? And he gives a great definition in this talk show appearance.

Here's the video:




And if you'd like to visit the website that Jim mentions in the video, here's the link to Cozy-Mystery. Enjoy!