“Cold” Is Hot

“The ever-radiant Alex Barclay,” as our friend Declan Burke describes her, has won the inaugural Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year prize for her 2008 suspense novel, Blood Runs Cold. That commendation was given out on Wednesday night as part of this year’s Irish Book Awards ceremony in Dublin. In what The Irish Times calls “an extremely competitive category,” Barclay’s third novel triumphed over the works of Arlene Hunt (Undertow), Tana French (The Likeness), and Brian McGilloway (Gallows Lane).

I guess this means I’m finally going to have to break down and read one of Barclay’s books. Lord knows that Burke has been pushing them long enough for me to become curious.

READ MORE: “If You’re Good at It, It Will Show,” by Mick Halpin (Critical Mick); “‘Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?’: Alex Barclay,” by Declan Burke (Crime Always Pays).