One To Watch: PRESERVE THE DEAD by Brian McGilloway

Whether writing about Benedict Devlin or Lucy Black, Brian McGilloway is one of Irish crime writing’s most engaging authors. PRESERVE THE DEAD (Corsair) sees Derry-based PSNI DS Lucy Black return for her third outing, following on from LITTLE GIRL LOST (2011) and HURT (2013). To wit:

Detective Sergeant Lucy Black is visiting her father, a patient in a secure unit in Gransha Hospital on the banks of the River Foyle. He’s been hurt badly in an altercation with another patient, and Lucy is shocked to discover him chained to the bed for safety. But she barely has time to take it all in, before an orderly raises the alarm - a body has been spotted floating in the river below...
  The body of an elderly man in a grey suit is hauled ashore: he is cold dead. He has been dead for several days. In fact a closer examination reveals that he has already been embalmed. A full scale investigation is launched - could this really be the suicide they at first assumed, or is this some kind of sick joke?
  Troubled and exhausted, Lucy goes back to her father’s shell of a house to get some sleep; but there’ll be no rest for her tonight. She’s barely in the front door when a neighbour knocks, in total distress - his wife’s sister has turned up badly beaten. Can she help?
  In Preserve The Dead, Brian McGilloway weaves a pacy, intricate plot, full of tension to the very last page. DS Lucy Black’s third outing since the bestselling Little Girl Lost, confirms her as one of the decade’s most original female detectives: strong, sensitive and ever determined.

  Brian McGilloway’s HURT was a NYT best-seller, so here’s hoping PRESERVE THE DEAD can repeat the trick. The book is published on July 2nd.

Little Girl Lost Finds A New Home

News arrived during the week, via the very fine Euro Crime blog, that Brian McGilloway will be publishing two new Lucy Black novels. To wit:

Constable & Robinson has acquired two new novels from crime writer Brian McGilloway, with the author moving from Pan Macmillan, where he was published by Macmillan New Writing, for the new titles.
  Publisher James Gurbutt bought two novels featuring series character DS Lucy Black.
  The first novel will be the sequel to LITTLE GIRL LOST, which sold more than 180,000 in its e-book edition.

  180,000 copies? Holy moly.
  I reviewed LITTLE GIRL LOST for the Irish Times when it appeared in 20011, suggesting that it was / is “an impressive statement of intent from an author whose reputation grows with each successive release.”
  For the rest, clickety-click here …