This time it's the Christmas picks of Brian McGilloway, author of Borderlands, the first in the Garda Inspector Devlin series.
"This is a hard choice to make in a year that’s seen the publication of some great reads. I caught up with my favourite established character, Dave Robicheaux, with the latest James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown, and encountered some new writers - LC Tyler’s The Herring Seller’s Apprentice is compulsive reading at the moment - or writers who are new to me - CJ Samson’s Sovereign was a great summer read.
"If I have to pick one, I couldn’t, so I’ll go for two. For a new discovery, I’d have to say Declan Burke’s, The Big O, which I read in one sitting a few months back. This is an extremely funny crime novel that takes Irish crime fiction in a whole new direction. Under the cracking comedy of the book lurks some very subtle and highly skillful plotting and prose. Declan’s just got a US deal, so catch The Big O before it gets any bigger.
"But, I’d also have to go with Exit Music. Ian Rankin was the first crime writer I ever read and Exit Music is a wholly appropriate ending to the series – at least with Rebus on the force. From the opening line – echoing the opening of the first Rebus, Knots and Crosses – to the perfection of the closing scene, Ian Rankin has delivered another master class in crime writing. It might not be the end of Rebus, but if it is – what a way to go."
More from Brian here, and for his selections click: The Big O and Exit Music.
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