The Embiggened O # 998: Bee, Where Is Thy Sting? Oh, There It Is …

We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. There we were, scrolling down through a very enjoyable John Connolly interview in the Sacramento Bee, when we stumbled upon this:

Q: Until recent years, Ireland hadn’t produced many crime novelists. Now there seems to be a surge, led by Declan Burke [right], Ken Bruen and Adrian McKinty. What’s changed to allow that?
A: Ireland’s (historic) genre fiction was fantasy. We were predominantly a rural society, while crime fiction is about urban life …

Erm, exqueeze us? There’s a surge now? And we’re leading it? Is it dangerous? Will there be pints of Pimms? And how come we’re always, always the last to know? Grumble, rhubarb, etc.