My pal Declan Burke has a new book out. Well, two new books, counting the one he edited. And you'll want to read the pair of them, honest.

Dec's new novel is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. Those who've taken my Compleat Scholar course ('Bleeding Green: Contemporary Irish Crime Fiction') will of course be familiar with Mr. Burke and his previous caper, THE BIG O, the story of a kidnapping gone wrong in all the right ways. He's got two other books as well, CRIME ALWAYS PAYS, and EIGHTBALL BOOGIE.

He gets some exceptional blurbs for the new one as well:

“A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny. Imagine, if you can, a cross between Flann O’Brien and Raymond Chandler.”   — John Banville, author of THE SEA

“A fascinating hybrid of MISERY, AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS, THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN, and who knows what else … ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL isn’t quite like anything else you’ve read, in any genre. It’s clever, intimate, passionate, and funny: altogether a wonderful achievement.”   — Irish Times

Find out more about ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL here.

The second book you'll want to pick up without delay is DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS: IRISH CRIME WRITING IN THE 21st CENTURY. Published by Liberties Press, this is a smashing collection of essays, articles, short stories and interviews by Irish crime writers on the subject of the phenomenal rise of Irish crime fiction. Contributors include John Connolly, John Banville, Tana French, Eoin McNamee, Stuart Neville, Arlene Hunt, Alan Glynn, Adrian McKinty, Ken Bruen, Jane Casey, Gene Kerrigan, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Brian McGilloway, Declan Hughes, Cora Harrison, Paul Charles, Colin Bateman, Alex Barclay, and many more. Michael Connelly provides the foreword.

“A thoroughly entertaining miscellany of essays, interviews, short stories, memoir and first-hand perspectives that offers intriguing insights into the genre … [a] wonderful collection.” — David Park, Irish Times

Find out more about DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS here.

To purchase a copy at the Liberties Press website, please click here.

And if you haven't yet sampled this amazing crop of Irish crime writers, don't delay.