Hi Brian, thanks for the add. Nice to bump into you here.

Hope things are going well. I must catch up with Gallows Lane.

Roger

Dear Mr McGilloway - This cyber-stalking must cease immediately, if not sooner. Yes, we are both broken men who have found themselves "emotionally compatible" on occasion, but I cannot be anyone's Ali McGraw, no matter how tempting the offer might seem in prospect. Please desist forthwith. Oh, and see you Tuesday, usual place. Cheers, Dec

Thanks for the friend invite, Brian! I've only read one of your books so far and loved it.

Hello Brian McGilloway! I not only read "Borderlands," but I have a signed, 1st ed hard copy of "Gallow's Lane," courtesy of Poisoned Pen Books, on my TBR shelf. And, I posted my review of "Borderlands" on DorothyL, 4MysteryAddicts, and Amazon, and we've not even met. Following is a copy of my review:

BORDERLANDS (Police Proc-Insp. Benedict Devlin-Ireland-Cont) – VG
McGilloway, Brian – 1st in series
Macmillan New Writing, 2007, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780230020061
First Sentence: It was not beyond reason that Angela Cashell’s final resting place should straddle the border.
*** When a body is found on the border between Northern and Southern Ireland, in an area known as the Borderlands, it is the identity of the victim that places the investigation in the hands of Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin. The investigation starts out looking for the killer based on events in the present. When a second body is found, the motive for the case turns to the past and the disappearance of a prostitute twenty-five years earlier.
*** This may be Brian McGilloway’s first mystery, but I sincerely hope it won’t be his last. Devlin is an interesting character. He’s married with two small children and a dog and put into a realistic dilemma when faced with an old girlfriend. The story is very well plotted and definitely kept me interested all the way through. I particularly liked that the story isn’t set in a city, but in a rural area where the loss of livestock is a serious issue. It’s a human story dealing with families and the sins of the fathers. One small note commending the publisher, it’s also a physically nice book; printed and bound in China and includes—when is the last time you saw this?—a sewn-in bookmark. I enjoyed it, recommend it and eagerly await McGilloway’s next book.

Brian,

I want to thank you for the great read. I've been reading a lot of Irish crime fiction lately and came across Borderlands. It just grabbed me and never let me go. Not for an instant. It's almost childlike the giddy feeling you get when you've discovered someone who's fiction speaks to you in such a way that your's spoke to me. There's a great Motown song called 'It's a thin line between love and hate', and Devlin walks that line as well as any character I've read about in a long time. I received my copy of Gallow's Lane from Ireland and the only thing keeping me from it is Bernie Gunther from Plillip Kerr's book 'A German Requiem'. I look forward to Devlin's next case with a certain restrained glee. Thanks again.

Hi. Thanks for the note. Nice to meet you. No international travel plans yet, but one of these days I really want to go to Ireland.

Hi, Brian. You're getting quite the following at The Mystery Bookstore - Los Angeles: our manager Bobby McCue is a huge fan of Borderlands. Hope we get to meet you soon! Linda Brown, Asst. Manager

New baby trumps book tour any time! Congrats to you and wife, hope all are healthy and sleeping!

Borderlands is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to Gallow's Lane - nice teaser in the Borderlands paperback, by the way.

Brian,

I read Gallow's Lane. Great stuff. I've got a pretty good chin when it comes to being stunned by crime fiction, but Ben Devlin and crew put me on the mat. I certainly hope your prolific. Borderlands appeared on the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble, I did my part and had friends snap up the two copies that were there. I'll always look to Europe to get your books when they first hit the market. Thanks again for the read. Good luck.

Hey Brian,

Congrats on child # 3. I put in an order through abebooks.com for your new novel and a new one by Gene Kerrigan. The books come out much earlier over there than in the states. Whichever book came first I'd start. I'm afraid it was Kerrigan over McGilloway in this particular mailing. In fact I'm still waiting for Bleed A River Deep to make it's way over. Kerrigan's book is fantastic, so Ill suck up some crime from the south while I wait for Devlin's dirty business from farther north to arrive. Cheers to you and your growing family.