Book Recommendation: The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

Book Recommendation: The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

The Cold Cold Ground (2012) is the first Detective Sean Duffy book by Irish novelist Adrian McKinty. There are now nine novels in this series. Click on the link to reach the website to learn more about the author and his books.

Northern Ireland, spring 1981. Hunger strikes, riots, power cuts, a homophobic serial killer with a penchant for opera, and a young woman's suicide that may yet turn out to be murder: on the surface, the events are unconnected, but then things--and people--aren't always what they seem. Detective Sergeant Duffy is the man tasked with trying to get to the bottom of it all. It's no easy job--especially when it turns out that one of the victims was involved in the IRA but was last seen discussing business with someone from the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force. Add to this the fact that, as a Catholic policeman, it doesn't matter which side he's on, because nobody trusts him, and Sergeant Duffy really is in a no-win situation. Fast-paced, evocative, and brutal, The Cold Cold Ground is a brilliant depiction of Belfast at the height of the Troubles--and of a cop treading a thin, thin line. Goodreads

Adrian was born and grew up in a working class housing project in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the worst decades of the Troubles. He attended Oxford University on a full scholarship to study philosophy. He fell in love with a girl there and followed her to New York City where he worked as an illegal in bars and building sites and as a Teamster driver for three years before marrying the girl and becoming a US citizen. He taught high school in Denver and Boulder before moving to Melbourne Australia where he decided to write full time.

His Sean Duffy series has currently sold in excess of 250,000 copies since its debut in 2012.

In the last 12 months Adrian’s books have been shortlisted for the Edgar Award, Dagger Award, Anthony Award, Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Ned Kelly Award and the Prix SNCF.

Awards

His debut crime novel Dead I Well May Be was short-listed for the CWA Steel Dagger Award 2004 and was picked as the best debut crime novel of 2003 by the American Library Association.

His debut young adult novel The Lighthouse Land was shortlisted for the 2008 Young Hoosier Award and the 2008 Beehive Award.

The Dead Yard was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the 12 Best Novels of 2006 and won the 2007 Audie Award for best thriller/suspense.

Fifty Grand won the 2010 Spinetingler Award for best novel and was long-listed for the 2011 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

Audible.com selected Falling Glass as the Best Mystery or Thriller of 2011.

The Cold Cold Ground won the 2013 Spinetingler Award for best crime novel, was shortlisted for The 2013 Prix Du Meilleur Polar and was shortlisted for the 2015 Prix SNCF Du Polar.

I Hear The Sirens In The Street won the 2014 Barry Award for best mystery novel (paperback original), was shortlisted for best crime novel at the 2013 Ned Kelly Awards, was shortlisted for the 2014 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and for the 2014 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the year Award.

In The Morning I’ll Be Gone won the 2014 Ned Kelly Award for best fiction, was shortlisted for the 2015 Audie Award For Best Thriller and was named as one of the 10 best crime novels of 2014 by the American Library Association.

Gun Street Girl was shortlisted for the 2016 Edgar Award (best pbk original), the 2015 Ned Kelly Award, the 2016 Anthony Award (best pbk original), the 2016 Audie Award for Best Mystery, was a Boston Globe “Best Book of 2015” and an Irish Times “Best Crime Novel of 2015.”

Rain Dogs was shortlisted for the 2016 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the 2016 Ned Kelly Award and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2016.

Adrian McKinty Books in Order