This is my last guest post highlighting “underrated or unappreciated writers” and one of Darlynne’s favorite mystery writers is Irish writer, John Brady. Only five of his books are digitized as I write this and no, the first book isn’t one of them but there seems to be plenty of used paper copies. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Darlynne, Trisha and Sarah for providing guest posts on the mystery writers they enjoy reading and thank all you for reading as well. Her guest post starts after the break
John Brady – Matt Minogue series, police procedural, Dublin
#1 A Stone in the Heart
#2 Unholy Ground
#3 Kaddish in Dublin
#4 All Souls
#5 The Good Life
#6 A Carra King
#7 Wonderland
#8 Islandbridge
#9 The Going Rate
#10 The Coast Road
Matt Minogue is introduced in A Stone of the Heart after returning to duty as a Sergeant with the Garda Murder Squad. He has been on leave because of injuries sustained from a bomb that killed the British Ambassador, the man he was protecting. It is 1988 and The Troubles in the North are very much in evidence, even in Dublin.
These nine-so-far books form a solid police procedural series, following the discovery of the crime to its sometimes rocky resolution. Minogue is a cypher to his colleagues, who don’t quite know how to take him. “A circumspect man, Minogue, some powerful imminence in him. He was rumored to have a terrific sense of humor,” reflects Inspector James Kilmartin.
One of the things that sets these books apart is Brady’s masterful grasp of Irish “crack,” the verbal sparing and joking that occur when Irish people gather in social settings. Minogue and Kilmartin are relentless in their banter, which is as breathtaking as it is delightfully and fiercely intelligent. Even ordinary observations and narration are written in that unique Irish perspective and voice, making the reader an immediate spectator to everything that happens.
It is Minogue himself, however, who is the gem of this series, a man with enormous heart, conscience and no easy faith in things being as everyone claims. Over the course of the books, Minogue is witness to the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger and the impact of the EU on the previously homogeneous Ireland, as well as his own family. He is the reader’s envoy to the Ireland beyond the quaint beer-and-shamrocks vision many hold, a man whose choice of someone as a friend is testament to the worthiness of that friend.
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Photo album of Minogue’s Ireland (gorgeous pictures)
I’ve only read the first book, which I recently reviewed. Excellent. I have two others on the TBR #2 and #3. Based on the first book I’m not sure why he didn’t take off as it’s just as good as Colin Dexter, Peter Robinson, etc. Funnily, he barely seems talked about in Irish crime writing circles which tends to focus on the new, post millennium crop of writers.
http://theviewfromthebluehouse.blogspot.com/2011/05/review-of-stone-of-heart-by-john-brady.html
Ah, thanks for the link Rob. Off to read your review.
Rob, I don’t know either why he hasn’t been more popular. When I worked at a small independent mystery bookstore, I made sure Stone of the Heart was always in stock so I could introduce Brady’s work to everyone who came in. The books aren’t cozy by any means, but they aren’t the hard boiled writing that is so much a part of contemporary Irish crime fiction. As some one who enjoys Ken Bruen and Stuart Neville, for example, I think John Brady deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.
Your review of Stone of the Heart was excellent. Thanks for mentioning it.
My sister and I love John Brady’s Minogue books, but his website is frustrating as there is no little information added there on a regular basis. Does anyone know if he is working on another book, or just keeping busy at his teaching job? I have been checking back every 3 months but nothing!
The last book to be published is Coast Road from last year and we couldn’t find anything new outside of that title. Sorry.
A belated comment – thanks for highlighting this author, who has gone under my radar. I’ve just ordered the first book in the series (available second-hand on UK Amazon). Another excellent author of Irish crime fiction is Gene Kerrigan- Little Criminals is the first. They are a sort of series but can be read independently.
I’ve started reading the first book now, quite good so far. Interesting that it was written just after the time that Adrian McKinty’s The Cold Cold Road is set, which I read immediately before.
I had a question, but now I see this is a guest post maybe you don’t know the answer. Do you have to read all the intervening Minogue books, or can you skip straight to The Coast Road? There are a lot inbetween!
By the way, on the list above, The Poacher (#10) is not a Minogue book but the first of a new series set in Austria.
In response to the questions above about why this author is not better known in Ireland, it could be because he lives in Canada? So is not part of the very busy “Irish author circle” that the other crime writers seem to be very much in? I believe it took a long time for Peter Robinson to catch on in England, some say that it is because he lives in Canada – although his stories are set in Yorkshire.
You will want to read his books in order and not skip ahead as there is a continuation in the lives of the main players from book-to-book.
I agree, primarily because I’d hate to lose the build up of tension that occurs from one book to the other.
Sheesh. “To the next,” not to the other.
In the Inspektor Kimmel novels, it is very annoying that John Brady uses so much (austrian) german. If you are writing in english, stick with it. This is one reason, in my opinion that John Brady hasn’t ” made it”. His writing comes across as pretentious which distracts from the good plot line.
Am planning to start on this series. But no one has mentioned Bartholomew Gill as author of delightful, intelligent Irish police procedurals. Sadly there are only a few as he died several years ago.
From John Brady website—”Next Minogue? There are always more Minogue stories awaiting. The next concerns something that happens in the wreckage of the crises afflicting Ireland currently: a missing mobile phone, a man who has had enough of doing the right thing, and group of friends who have kept up their connections since their years together in university many years ago.”
So it would appear he is working on his next Minogue series book….but no dates and nothing on amazon.ca to say it’s coming. (Wish his website was more helpful.)
Hi Robin, I actually have one book by Bartholomew Gill in my stacks. I love police procedural novels so I will make sure to check him out. Sorry to hear that he died.