Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of The Year Longlist

The Dying Breed (US Title The Price of Blood) is on it. There are twenty books in all, to be whittled down to a shortlist of eight, by means of a public vote.

You can vote here: http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime/
The Vote Now! box on the top left of the page will take you to the longlist.
Obviously, I'd prefer if you voted for me.

Publication Day # 2

City of Lost Girls is published in the UK and Ireland today. Bono is a minor character in the book: he appears in a nightclub early on, is slagged off by a self-loathing journalist, and is later given his (admiring) due by Ed Loy and his film director friend Jack Donovan. I was listening to No Line On The Horizon a lot while I was writing the book. This is one of the best songs on the album: Magnificent.

The Irish Times review ...

It's not quite like the New York Times review of a Broadway show, where a thumbs-down means you close on Sunday (hello, Enron), but the Irish Times review is the one everyone you know, and many potential readers, will see, not to mention the one in the paper you read yourself, so it's always a relief when it's good. And let's not forget the Irish Independent, which actually has the higher readership.

City of Lost GIrls - Dublin event

I'll be reading with Alan Glynn at County Hall, Dun Laoghaire, on Wednesday, May 12, at 7.30. This is the only Dublin event I'll be doing for the new book, and while strictly speaking it isn't a launch party, we're going to behave as if it is. And you know what that means.

No Alibis

Appearing at No Alibis tonight in Belfast with Brian McGilloway. We'll be reading from our new novels, The Rising and City of Lost Girls. Come along if you can - we always have fun there. Meanwhile, here's a review, penned by the indefatigable Declan Burke, of both books, along with Arlene Hunt's Blood Money, from the Irish Sunday Independent.