Declan Hughes: Must He Throw This Filth At His Kids?

Rachel Petzold was kind enough to review Declan Hughes’ latest offering, ALL THE DEAD VOICES, over at The Feminist Review. She didn’t like the book, which is fair enough, because we’re all entitled to an opinion, especially feminists. The review concludes thusly:

“Declan Hughes is a Shamus Award-winning author, a husband, and a father of two girls. I hope he never lets them read his work.”

  Now, the ‘Shamus Award-winning author’ bit I get, but I’m not entirely sure what Declan Hughes’ marital status, or his being a dad to two girls, has to do with the quality or otherwise of the novel. Besides, given that the two young ladies in question will very probably grow up to become exemplary feminists, how the hell is Declan Hughes supposed to stop them from doing whatever they want to do, reading his very fine novels included?
  Ladies, I know you’re out there. I’d very much appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

The Man Who Put The ‘Huge’ Into ‘Hughes’

Is it just us, or is it starting to look like some kind of Irish crime writing invasion over in the U.S.? Ken Bruen nabbed an impressive haul of awards at the Alaska Bouchercon over the weekend, but he wasn’t the only Irish page-blackener to pilfer a gong. Step up Declan Hughes, who won a Best First Novel Shamus for THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD, as reported to us first by The Rap Sheet. Characterised as an Irish Ross Macdonald, Hughes has the follow-up, THE COLOUR OF BLOOD, already published, with a little Declan Hughes-shaped birdie whispering that there’s a third written and ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Our advice? Batten down the hatches for declanhughesmania. And, yes, we’ve just invented that. Just trips off the tongue, don’t it?

News Flash Or Flash News? YOU Decide!

Yep, ’tis a good day for Irish crime fiction, to be sure, to be sure. The various shortlists for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards have just been announced, and Sir Kenneth of Bruen has been nominated for Best Hardcover for The Dramatist (St. Martin’s Minotaur). Huzzah, etc. It seems like only last Monday that Ken was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson promoting Priest … hold on, it was only last Monday. Sheesh, the boy fairly gets around, don’t he? Meanwhile, Declan Hughes has been nominated for Best First Novel for The Wrong Kind of Blood (William Morrow), the debut outing for his Dublin-based PI, Ed Loy. Hughes’ novels (the second being The Colour of Blood) have been given the Ross Macdonald hup-ya from a variety of sources, so here’s hoping he’ll nab his first Shamus, while Sir Kenneth yoinks his second. The awards will be presented on September 28, 2007, at the PWA banquet in Anchorage, Alaska, during the weekend of the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention; for full details of all nominations, sashay on over to Sarah Weinman’s ever-reliable Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.