“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 84: Bill Crider

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
I'm not at all sure I can answer this. On any given day, the answer would probably be different. For today, The Big Sleep, followed closely by The Maltese Falcon and The Chill.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
I never consider reading to be guilty, but at the moment I'm reading the new paperback edition of Harold Robbins's The Carpetbaggers. That's about as guilty as it gets.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Any time I finish a book or story.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
Can I call The White Trilogy a single novel? That's what got me started reading Ken Bruen. I'm not really qualified to answer, though, not knowing as much as I should about the Irish crime novel. Certainly the "middle period" Jack Higgins books are wonderful stuff. Or does Higgins count? He was born in Belfast, I think.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Again I'm not really qualified to answer. How about John Connolly's Every Dead Thing? The right director might do well with that one.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: the huge royalty checks. Worst: there's a worst?
Why does John Banville use a pseudonym for writing crime?
Branding? Like, if you buy a Ford, you want a Ford. If you buy John Banville, you want "literature."
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Laid-back, wry, rural.

Edgar-nominated Bill Crider recently published Murder Among The OWLS

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