Thursday 12 June 2008

Last McKinty Post of the Day


Yesterday I attended the Belfast launch of Adrian McKinty's The Bloomsday Dead. The venue was the super-cool No Alibis. As usual, Dave Torrans was the host with the most. As usual, I had to turn down the free wine. Damn my respect for the drink driving laws! But seriously, I can't say this often enough; Dave owns the best independent bookshop I've ever been to. And you'll have a hard time finding a friendlier, more knowledgeable shopkeeper.

Adrian McKinty read very little from his Serpent's Tail release of the third book in the Michael Forsythe trilogy. Instead he told the very funny story of how the book came into existence. Then he read one of the few short excerpts that didn't contain swearing, sex or violence (his mother was in the audience).

After a very interesting Q&A, I hijacked the fellah for about ten minutes, and we chatted about the booming NI crime fiction scene while he signed my Forsythe trilogy. I gotta say, the guy's a gentleman, and not just as scary as I thought he'd have been. I had a great night, listening to his hilarious anecdotes, his answers to the questions fired at him by the crowd, and getting the opportunity to shake his hand and have a quick natter with him.

Many thanks to Dave Torrans and Adrian McKinty. You rock.

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