Declan Burke and Books to Die For

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's a question we all get asked; authors and readers, librarians and booksellers. Facebook and Goodreads and Library Thing ask it. People at book signings, interviewers, and students ask it. But who would be crazy enough to ask it of 120 of the most well-known crime fiction writers of today?

A couple of Irishmen, of course. Today, Declan Burke is here to talk with us about the very simple concept - and the sometimes complicated execution - of getting a list of Books to Die For.

Just say you were asked to recommend one great mystery novel to the whole world. It's the book you love more than any other, and love is often irrational. Love is not in the slightest bit worried about technical brilliance or cultural importance or defining or inventing a genre. Love is passionate, illogical, often perverse. We're talking about the book that can render you speechless, the words jumbling on your tongue, in the rush to sing its praises.  

So - which single book would YOU choose? 

That was the general gist of the question John Connolly and I asked of almost 120 writers from all around the world for BOOKS TO DIE FOR. The response was astonishing. 

In retrospect, I suppose we should have expected to be overwhelmed. Is there any question more intoxicating to a book lover than, “So, what's your favourite book?” 

Equally, there's no question more ridiculous to a book lover than, “So, what,s your favourite book?” Because really, who could possibly limit themselves to just one book?

But rules are rules, and there is only a finite amount of paper in the world, so we held each contributor to a single book. 

Naturally, every single author who contributed an essay picked exactly the book we thought they would pick. 

You're picking up on the sarcasm, right?

 

Right. Because if there's one thing I've learned from the process of putting BOOKS TO DIE FOR together, it's this: Never try to second-guess a writer on the subject of their favourite novel. 

Put it this way. You'd imagine that the name of Agatha Christie, for example, might come very high on the list of first options. That there would be a queue, and not a particularly orderly one, to write about the Grand Dame of the Golden Age of the British mystery novel. 

Well, you'd be wrong. I'm guessing - there I go again - that many of the contributors were second-guessing us. Believing that Agatha Christie would be one of the first names to be chosen, they went for less obvious choices. 

As it happens, the flurry came near the end of the process, and we ended up including two books by Agatha Christie. 

By contrast, we could have held a lottery among all the authors who wanted to write about Josephine Tey. 

Was I aware of Josephine Tey's literary legacy? Yes. Had I the faintest inkling that she remains so vitally important to successive generations of writers? Not an iota. 

This was just one of the many wonderful surprises that came with putting together BOOKS TO DIEFOR. Many of the titles and writers chosen were familiar to me, of course; but one of the joys of the project was discovering authors and novels I'd never even heard of before.

 

The contributions from two of the Jungle Red writers fall neatly into both categories outlined here. Had I heard of Deborah's choice? Yes, of course, and I've enjoyed her author's novels immensely. Julia's choice? I'm ashamed to say I'd never even heard of the book. Will I be picking it up on her recommendation? Absolutely.

But let's go back to our original question. What is YOUR book to die for, the book that changed the way you think about books, the one mystery novel you'd recommend to the readers of the Jungle Red blog?

Tell us what it is, and why that is the case, and the most interesting and original suggestion will win a copy of BOOKS TO DIE FOR and a copy of SLAUGHTER'S HOUND.

And now, it's over to you!

DeclanBurke has published four novels: Eightball Boogie (2003), The Big O (2007), Absolute Zero Cool (2011) and Slaughter's Hound (2012). Absolute Zero Cool was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards, and received the Goldsboro / Crimefest “Last Laugh” Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel in 2012. He is also the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21stCentury (2011), and the co-editor, with John Connolly, of Books toDie For (2012). He hosts a website dedicated to Irish crime fiction called Crime Always Pays and is on Twitter as @declanburke.