Simon Maltman Blogs

Overview of Ulster Noir On my Belfast Noir walking tour, I give out lots of recommendations and people often note many of these down. A reading group from Dublin were on the tour yesterday  and asked for me to compile  a list for them. I thought I would share it here on my blog too. This is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully will offer a rudimentary overview of the local scene. It includes well established writers and some who are earlier in their career. Of course it also includes many of my personal favourite books!  Rise of Ulster Noir  (This was following a period of 'Troubles Trash' where many books were set here but often written from afar and were not always that great) Maurice Leitch Leitch's first novel came in 1965 and he is still writing today in various disciplines. He has been awarded an MBE for services to literature.  Check out Silver's City  Colin Bateman  Colin Bateman broke ...

It was great craic to be part of the Noireland festival this year, taking Crime Fiction fans on our Belfast Noir tour. Great to have people along not only from various parts of the UK, but the likes of USA and Germany too. The festival had a great atmosphere about it and was a really class weekend. Last week I had a Tourist Board tour, taking international buyers on Belfast Noir too. I love introducing people to Belfast and in particular to writers who they haven't read before. Finishing  up in No Alibis Bookstore is always a great way to end, so folk can have a good old riffle through some awesome books. I've found it's really true that writers aren't competitive with one another, and like nothing more than bigging up other authors  that they enjoy- and that's certainly how I feel. The local scene really is thriving. What about talking about our own books?  It's a well discussed contradiction that introverted writers have to get out there and...

2018 Books, Music & T.V For what it's worth, here's my two pennies on what I thought were high points this year. This is just a quick run through of my personal faves. Books 13- Steve Cavanagh The tag line is all you need- 'The serial killer isn't on trial- he's on the jury.' Grab yourself a copy if you're one of the few who hasn't already! In a House of Lies- Ian Rankin Rebus returns, along with your favourite Rankin characters. There's much to savour in seeing an older and failing Rebus involve himself in a tense mystery. Disorder- Gerard Brennan The prose is anything but disordered in this multi-protagonist noir. Take a hard-boiled, sometimes gritty and comical tour of the streets of Belfast. Albums Alice in Chains- Rainier Fog The grunge survivors hit back with their best album since Layne Staley's passing. A satisfying blend of big riffs and scorching harmonies. Walking Papers- W2 Walk...

Belfast Noir "Belfast is the most noir place on earth." Lee Child For a while I had been thinking how Belfast didn't seem to have much in the way of screen or literature tours. Of course there are Game of Thrones tours, but not much else. Thinking about the city centre out towards the south, I realised lots had been filmed there- such as Line of Duty , The Fall and the classic Film Noir Odd Man Out.  Put this together with the downright explosion of Ulster Noir and local writers, I wondered why there was no tour around any of this. So I thought I' d have a go! I wrote a draft of a tour and then teamed up with local company, Belfast Hidden Tours . They had also been thinking of doing something similar. We've been developing it for six months and here we are! It's a mix of screen and books, with a heavy influence on Crime Fiction and a wee bit of true crime, with other bits and bobs thrown in. We launched last week and the hour and a half t...

BEL 1 EVE the HYP 3 ! As soon as the title and hook were first dropped, this novel was eagerly anticipated by many: "The serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury." It certainly doesn't disappoint and fully deserves the various high profile plaudits and the terrific sales in Ireland. Hopefully this will be repeated when it's released in other countries. Lawyer Eddie Flynn returns for a thriller that is much more than a courtrooms drama, though there is much tension to be found in the carefully crafted court scenes. Flynn soon becomes neck deep in the biggest case since OJ, while also on the hunt for a highly intelligent serial killer, who is... well- you know where he is! Steve Cavanagh effortlessly takes us on a breakneck run around New York with a twisty, turny plot that entertains with no lag. It is the definition of a page turner and I highly recommend it. You really won't want to put it down and I'm kind of disappointed that I...