There are times when you pick up a book and wonder if the author is using a nom de plume, especially when the little voice in your head is yelling at you, “that’s not real, surely. Who christens their kid that?” But quirky is good, it allows one to stand out, gives you a conversation starter, for life. Also, think of the Johnny cash song, “A Boy Called Sue”, or in my case I think about some of the names we give our animals. We’ve just got a cat with half it’s tail missing, as a result of an accident. So, my wife called it Jaffa, I’d have gone with Stumpy… Sometimes our pets must think “oh, sweet, Jesus, who did I piss off in another life”. The native American’s named their young after the first thing they saw after the birth. This book is written by a man with surnames for his christian and surname. When I saw this, I concluded that my parents would have called me O’Shea Murphy, because logically he’s been christened with his mum’s maiden name. but in my case, it would’ve sounded worse than being called Sue. In this writer’s case, its sounds perfectly normal, after the first couple of seconds. This month’s first book review is ‘An Honest Living’ by Dwyer Murphy and published by No Exit Press on 1st February ( www.bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk/no-exit/ ).
After quitting a prestigious Manhattan law firm, on a whim. A restless lawyer must try to survive as an odd-job litigator, on the cruel streets of the big apple. When Anna Reddick turns up at his apartment with ten grand in cash, asking him to prove her husband is trying to sell valuable first editions, belonging to her family, it turns out to be an easy case. That is until the real Anna Reddick, an enigmatic novelist, comes to him. He realises he is out of his depth, especially when her husband takes his own life. He is thus drawn into a series of deceptions involving, Joeseph Conrad novels, unscrupulous booksellers, and seedy real estate developers.
If you love gritty noir-esque gumshoe books, things like the Mike Hammer, or the Spenser series. Even the old Bogart type flicks. Then this book is right up you street. I got with the main character from the first page, despite quickly realising that Dwyer Murphy had made himself the main character. Again, with a name like that you sound your going to sound like a law firm, or a bogart character.
The book is short at a smidge over two hundred pages, but if you love read books with detailed descriptions of the uptown gin joints, and downtown dives in New York, then get ready to filly your boots. Murphy’s writing is so detailed, I went to sleep with the honking of taxi cabs. While there is a plethora of intriguing, and fully fledged characters all through the book too.
This is American author Dwyer Murphy (@dwyermurphy) debut novel. His second book ‘The Stolen Coast’ is due out later this year. His day job is Editor-Chief of CrimeReads (www.crimereads.com) The Literary hubs crime vertical. He previously practiced law in New York, and editor the Columbia law Review.
So, if you are looking for a gritty, but funny thriller set in the rarely seen world of bookselling, then Murphy’s Debut is one to head for. Then maybe follow up with his second book.
Reviewed by : Adrian Murphy
This book is part of a Random Things Blog Tour, to see what the other reviewers thought of it, visit their blogs listed below. Then, if you get a copy, comeback and tell us what you thought, we’d love the feedback.
Pickpockets are active in almost any area where large crowds gather. Tourist hot spots are regularly dotted with signs advising visitors to be aware of them. But some are so deft at their trade, that it can be sometime before you are aware that you have been targeted. Then when it happens, it feels like a violation, and that’s because it is. Some uncaring stranger now has your cash, phone, ID, and credit cards. The shock and loss of these personal and valuable items can at times be akin to a mini bereavement.
Having spent many years cruising the canals and rivers of England myself, in a previous life. I became familiar with narrow boats and the complexities of using locks, finding moorings and steering a sometimes large and, occasionally unwilling it seemed, boat through narrow passageways and tunnels. The countryside is beautiful, the pace relaxing and the boating community, friendly and welcoming. So, when I read the blurb about this month’s second book review, I was immediately engaged by the premise of the book. It is Canal Pushers by Andy Griffee and published in paperback by Orphans Publishing (
I never had a gap year. Where I grew up, if you were lucky enough and smart enough you went from college to university, or like me, directly to a job with an apprenticeship and a professional qualification at the end. The rest of my year went on the ‘dole’ or into youth employment schemes. I suppose it was the era before gap years really became trendy. I can certainly see the benefits of a little worldly experience before you settle down to work and study.
I seem to be having a run of family secret and particularly sister relationship novels to read. Either via my book club or The Library Door; they keep coming. A feminine spin on things would appear to be 2019’s trademark, with remakes for films using female lead characters instead of the original, male ones and a raft of strong female leads in film and TV.
As I was reading this months first book, I was spending a long weekend in Kerry with my husband’s extended family. Nothing too sinister in the way of secrets involved, just a surprise 70th birthday celebration for his uncle. It had been planned over months and involved various relatives flying in or driving down to Kerry, caterers and, of course, a cake. All went off without a hitch, the birthday boy being left, for once, speechless. It was still interesting as a newcomer to the family to watch the interactions, the ancient but tolerated jokes and the acceptance of a few little irritations, which occur when a large group of people are forced together for several days.
The British Isles and Ireland are pockmarked with moorland and bogs, from as far south as Dartmoor to the Yorkshire Dales, Rannoch Moor in Scotland and The Burren in the West of Ireland. All through history, as well as in literature, these vast tracts of desolate land have fascinated us. Whether it’s as the roaming area of the fabled Hound of the Baskervilles in Sherlock Holmes, the setting for a doomed love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff on the Yorkshire moors, the hunting grounds of the reputed beasts of Bodmin Moor or as burial grounds for the Saddleworth Moors victims,the moorlands of Britain and Ireland are notorious for their role in the darker side of life and literature. So they are a great setting for this month’s book. Its “Six Stories” by Matt Wesolowski, published by Orenda Books (
the library door 