Thursday, October 4, 2007

“Crucifixion? Second On The Left, One Cross Each.”

Nice to see the Donegal News praising Paul Charles for the authentic feel to the Donegal-set The Dust of Death, especially as the London-based scribe, the creator of Camden Town’s finest Christy Kennedy, originally hails from the neighbouring county of Derry. Mind you, Paul’s local knowledge is hardly surprising given that his wife is a Donegal woman and he’s been sniffing around Donegal as a location for a novel for some time now. Quoth Paul:
“I introduced Inspector Starrett when Christy Kennedy was solving a crime and returned to his native Portrush. I like to keep things factually accurate. I’d wouldn’t like my readers to be scoffing at something in the plot saying “Ah come on, that could never have happened,” so when it went cross-border he had to work in conjunction with Inspector Starrett. It made it much easier to write this first Donegal detective novel because he came to me already fully formed.”
Lovely stuff. Mind you, given that the novel opens with a crucifixion in the sleepy village of Ramelton, maybe we’d best lay off the ‘prophet recognised in his own country’ lines for now, eh?

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Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.