Scene of the Crime has thus far been remiss in not including an Irish author into the mix. This post redresses that oversight. Declan Burke is most verifiably an Irish author of crime fiction whose work has been compared to Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake. Fellow Irish writer Ken Bruen calls Burke “the future of Irish crime fiction.”
Burke’s debut novel, Eightball Boogie, features pot-smoking and wisecracking PI Harry Rigby, who according to Booklist, resembles “the gin-soaked love child of Rosalind Russell and William Powell.” The same reviewer called this first novel “a wild ride worth taking,” while London’s Sunday Times concluded, “A manic, edgy tone that owes much to Elmore Leonard … could be the start of something big.”
Burke’s The Big O, is a caper crime novel about which Booklist declared, “Fans of comic noir will find plenty to enjoy here.” In a starred Kirkus Reviews article, a critic observed, “Imagine Donald Westlake and his alter ego Richard Stark moving to Ireland and collaborating on a screwball noir, and you have some idea of Burke’s accomplishment.” The Irish Times similarly felt that The Big O “carries on the tradition of Irish noir with its Elmore Leonard-like style.” Burke’s 2009 Crime Always Pays “is a worthy successor,” Dana King commented in the New Mystery Reader. King described the plot of that book as “a little like what might be expected if Elmore Leonard wrote from an outline by Carl Hiaasen.” (more…)
Scene of the Crime 