The New Wave of Scottish and Irish Mystery

Following the irresistible rise of such talented and gripping authors like Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Quintin Jardine, Denise Mina, all part of what was ironically once called the MacMafia by some observers, and John Connolly, Colin Bateman, John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, Tana French and many others detailing the dark side of the Celtic Tiger, the renaissance of crime writing in Scotland and Ireland continues afoot.

Tackling both the ills of society and offering a whole extra dimension of thrills, adventures and fascinating detection and suspense, a brand new generation of local authors have thrown off the shackles of the traditional British mystery model and unveiled a slew of novels and series with savage pace, painstaking characterisation and a flair for storytelling that makes their books unputdownable.

Not all of them set their books on home ground, but what they have in common is a talent for writing that holds the reader hostage whether roaming the mean streets of Galway or Edinburgh, Cuba or Greece, Aberdeen, post-Troubles Belfast or even the corridors of spying in 1945 Washington.

These are tomorrow’s classics. Read them now.

TONY BLACK - His third novel LOSS is another bleak investigation for his poignant Edinburgh washed up journalist turned involuntary private investigator Gus Dury.

KEN BRUEN - 2010 is going be Bruen’s year, with three major movies based on his books being released, including the star-studded LONDON BOULEVARD.

PAUL CHARLES - Following the success of his urbane DI Christy Kennedy series, Charles has now begun a new series featuring Inspector Starrett of the County Donegal Serious Crime Unit.

ALLAN GUTHRIE - If Guthrie had an American equivalent, it would be the incomparable James Ellroy. His world is dark, action-filled, rough and ready and his new novel SLAMMER is another walk on the wild side.

DECLAN HUGHES -  Ed Loy is the Dublin investigator par excellence and the city dominates Hughes’ books like Los Angeles does in Raymond Chandler.

PAUL JOHNSTON - His early Quintin Dalrymple thrillers were set in a near future Edinburgh, but his Alex Mavros trilogy, of which THE GOLDEN SILENCE is the 3rd, occurs in the Greek islands and Athens.

STUART MACBRIDE - BLIND EYE is the 4th and latest volume in the increasingly popular series of Aberdeen thrillers with DS Logan McRae at the helm.

ADRIAN MCKINTY - The stylish Irish author has followed his DEAD trilogy with FIFTY GRAND, a powerful revenge novel set in Cuba and Colorado.

ALY MONROE - Her debut novel THE MAZE OF CADIZ was showered with praise by reviewers, plunging the reader into the murky world of espionage  in the immediate aftermath of WW2.

STUART NEVILLE - THE TWELVE,  Neville’s first novel is an outstanding debut about a haunted ex-IRA killer and British undercover agent striving to survive his guilt and a veritable posse of implacable enemies.

Great Female Sleuths...

Move over Sherlock Holmes and tell Philip Marlowe and Hercule Poirot the news! Female detectives rule the roost.

They might not always have the physical strength to survive brutal encounters with assorted villains (but then again, they’d often surprise you), but women investigators now dominate the crime and mystery horizon and solve cases with elegance, wit, intelligence and canny instinct and, on average, probably have a much better batting equivalent than their male counterparts.

I’d like to introduce you to some of my other favourite investigators from the other side of the gender divide, hardy bloodhounds and seeker of truths all that you might not have yet come across. They span the decades, and ably demonstrate that the gentler sex has nothing to envy the opposing heavy mob when it comes to solving crime and offering thrills a plenty.

MRS BRADLEY - Better known at the Home Office as Dame Beatrice Lestrange, and once played by Diana Rigg on TV.

TEMPERANCE BRENNAN - Created by Kathy Reichs, Tempe Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who shares her time between North Carolina and Montreal.

JULIA GREY - Deanna Raybourn’s aristocratic Victorian Lady Julia Grey has so far appeared in three novels, all featuring involving capers and sparkling dialogue.

KINSEY MILHONE - Sue Grafton’s feisty California investigator first appeared in 1982’s A IS FOR ALIBI and has rushed through the alphabet ever since.

TESS MONAGHAN - Tess, like her creator Laura Lippman, started off as a journalist in Baltimore, before their career paths diverged and she became a private eye.

ALEX MORROW - A Glasgow cop with a nose for social injustice and the dark side of society, DS Alex Morrow is introduced in STILL MIDNIGHT.

STEPHANIE PLUM - A wisecracking New Jersey involuntary sleuth whose personal relationships and hapless investigations have a tendency to always go wrong with often hilarious results.

LISBETH SALANDER - Pierced, tattooed and garbed in extreme punk attire,  computer hacker Salander is the touching, vulnerable but mightily determined heroine of the best-selling MILLENNIUM series.

KAREN TAYLOR - British author Natasha Cooper introduces this new character, a forensic psychologist, in NO ESCAPE. Dark psychological tones and tortured relationships define the feisty character.

V.I. WARSHAWSKI - Launched in 1982 by Sara Paretsky in INDEMNITY ONLY, Vic Warshawski is the toughest gal on the Chicago block, a female private eye who could outfight Philip Marlowe and his kind, as well as outsmart them.

AMELIA PEABODY - the most entertaining Egyptian adventures of an American suffragette and archaeologist.

Great Male Sleuths...

There are so many on offer; where to begin? Here is an initial selection that I hope will satisfy any criminal appetite.

A blend of crime and thrillers, contemporary and historical, dark and gripping as well as sometimes even humorous, cops and amateur sleuths, private eyes, spies and adventurers. All unforgettable and fascinating characters made of flesh and blood whose stories will resonate with you long after you’ve closed the book and that you will want to follow for years to come, as all these current series are still ongoing. I can guarantee they will become your new favourites.

CHARLIE PARKER - the travails of a haunted American detective whose past always catches up with him as he hunts down fiendish killers.

LIEUTENANT JONATHAN STRIDE - a small town American cop with a troubled love life whose investigations are invariably complex and gripping as he confronts scheming killers with a wild imagination.

DI JACK CAFFERY -  a London cop in self-exile in Bristol who is running from his past, now working in tandem with a local female police diver.

DI TOM THORNE - a dogged London cop whose beat somehow invariably crosses into the dark side and confronts evil at its cleverest.

JOE FARADAY - the investigations of a Portsmouth cop and a fascinating look into crime on the British coast.

BERNIE GUNTHER - a German cop who has moved from the Nazi 1930s to the post-war period, with mixed loyalties but a strong sense of duty which often gets him into trouble.

LOUIE KNIGHT - the madcap and often poignant adventures of the only private eye in Aberystwyth.