A Special Thanks to Declan Burke ...

... for having guest posted in The Rap Sheet all week long. Burke contacted me months ago, suggesting that he put together a series for this blog about the past and future of Irish crime fiction. But then he got busy, and he had a child (well, he and his wife did, anyway), and suddenly his time was more precious than it had been. I’m pleased that we could finally find a way to bring his thinking on Irish crime fiction to Rap Sheet readers.

I am also pleased to see that Burke’s sophomore novel, The Big O--which I applauded in January Magazine’s best of 2007 feature--is due out in the States on Monday, after hitting it big in Ireland. It’s a terrific, sarcastic story that should be appeal to readers who like their crime yarns heavy on eccentric characters and the unlikely complications that so often arise from “the best-laid plans.”