Dublin: The City of Crime Writers

     You'd be hard pushed to find a city more invested in books and literature than Dublin. Of course none other than James Joyce himself took a keen interest in crime and punishment--the 1803 execution of Robert Emmet for revolutionary activities, was just one famous trial whose details percolate through the narrative of Ulysses, while the Maamtrasna murders of 1882 which led to the execution of a peasant called Miles Joyce (wrongly convicted) is a significant theme in Finnegan's Wake. Joyce liked to attend trials. In 1889 he spent three days watching the trial in Dublin of Samuel Childs for the brutal murder of his brother, a crime (for which Childs was acquitted after a spectacular defense by Seymour Bushe). It is alluded to in Ulysses when a man tells Simon Dedalus, "That is where Childs was murdered..."

     Today, crime writing is a strong strand of Dublin's continuing literary tradition. Every discussion currently concerning the genre starts with Tana French who, though American-born, has lived in Ireland since her university days at Trinity College. The Irish Independent has dubbed her "The First Lady of Irish Crime" and her Dublin Murder Squad series, which began in 2007 with In the Woods (the novel that also forms the basis for the recent TV show, Dublin Murders), now has six installments. They are all bestsellers--In the Woods, which combines a psychological thriller with a police procedural, with now well over a million copies. The novel follows Dublin detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox investigating the murder of a 12-year-old girl. The series revolves around the various members of the Dublin Murder Squad, with each team member taking centre stage in each book. The Likeness (2008) sees Maddox working with undercover ops cooper Frankie MacKay. Book 3 Faithful Place (2010) then focuses on a murder investigation led by Mackay. Broken Harbor (2012) follows Dublin's ace detective, "Scorcher"  Kennedy on a case while his life is in meltdown. The Secret Place (2014) and the most recent addition to the series, The Trespasser, (2016) continue the theme and follow other team members.

Paul French, "Dublin: A City of Books, and a City With a Serious Crime Fiction Tradition," CrimeReads, August 3, 2020.