Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and

mystery novels Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

and

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, ''The Chain'', and the Sean Duffy novels set in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. He is a winner of the

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

, the

Ned Kelly Award The Ned Kelly Awards (named for bushranger Ned Kelly) are Australia's leading literary awards for crime writing in both the crime fiction and true crime genres. They were established in 1996 by the Crime Writers Association of Australia to rewar ...

, the Barry Award, the

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

, the

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

and the

International Thriller Writers Award The International Thriller Writers Awards are awarded by International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ...

. He has been shortlisted for the

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association for best thriller of the year. The award is sponsored by the estate of Ian Fleming. It is given to a title that fits the broadest definition of th ...

and the

Grand Prix de Littérature Policière The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (or the Police Literature Grand Prize) is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in ...

Biography

Early life

McKinty was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

in 1968. The fourth of five children, he grew up in the Victoria area of

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. His father was a welder and

boilermaker A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

at the

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

shipyard before becoming a merchant seaman. He grew up reading science fiction and crime novels by the likes of

Ursula Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was f ...

J G Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

and Jim Thompson. He studied law at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

and politics and philosophy at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. After graduating from Oxford in 1993, McKinty moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and found work in a number of occupations: security guard, barman, bookstore clerk, rugby coach, door to door salesman and librarian for the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Library. In 1999, while his wife studied for a Fulbright in Israel, McKinty played

loose head prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

forward for the Jerusalem Lions Rugby Club. In 2000, he relocated to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado to become a high school English teacher.

Writing career

After writing several short stories, a novella and book reviews, his debut crime novel, ''

Dead I Well May Be ''Dead I Well May be'' is a 2003 novel by Irish/Australian author Adrian McKinty. It is his second novel, following ''Orange Rhymes With Everything'', and was nominated for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award for the best thriller of the year. ...

'', was published by

Scribner Scribner may refer to: Media * Charles Scribner's Sons, also known as Scribner or Scribner's, New York City publisher * ''Scribner's Magazine'', pictorial published from 1887–1939 by Charles Scribner's Sons, then merged with the ''Commentator ...

in 2003. The book was followed by two sequels in what would become to be known as the Michael Forsythe Trilogy. Alongside these, McKinty wrote the three books in his Lighthouse Trilogy, a series of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novels set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, his native

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and the fictional

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql or ...

. In 2008 McKinty moved with his family to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, to become a full-time writer. He found his greatest success and critical acclaim with the Sean Duffy series, following the eponymous Royal Ulster Constabulary Sergeant during

, beginning with 2012's ''The Cold Cold Ground''. In 2019, the author made this comment about that novel: "It didn’t sell very well, but it ended up getting the best reviews of my career. I got shortlisted for an Edgar, won a couple of awards, and so then that set me on that path for the next six years of reluctantly, kind of being dragged into writing about Northern Ireland in the 1980s". The third Duffy book, '' In the Morning I'll Be Gone'', won the 2014

for Best Novel. McKinty has been an especially astute observer of class in fiction. He also began working as a writer and reviewer for a number of publications including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Independent'', ''The Australian'', ''The Irish Times'' and ''Harpers''.

Quitting writing and ''The Chain''

McKinty quit writing in 2017 after being evicted from his rented house, citing a lack of income from his novels, and instead took work as an

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

driver and a bartender. Upon hearing of his situation, fellow crime author

Don Winslow Don Winslow (born October 31, 1953) is an American retired author best known for his award-winning and internationally bestselling crime novels, including '' Savages'', ''The Force'' and the Cartel Trilogy. Early life Winslow was born on Oct ...

passed some of his books to his agent, the screenwriter and producer

Shane Salerno Shane Salerno (born November 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory. His writing credits include the films '' Avatar: The Way of Water'', ''Armageddon'', '' Savages,'' '' Shaft'', and the ...

. In a late-night phone call, Salerno persuaded McKinty to write what would become ''The Chain''. Salerno loaned the author ("advance on the advance") $10,000 to help him survive financially during the process. The stand-alone thriller was inspired by the

chain letters A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...

of his youth and contemporary reports of hostage exchanges. McKinty returned to writing after the book landed him a six-figure English-language book deal, and was

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

for a film adaptation by Paramount Pictures. In an interview on CBS McKinty talked about never giving up and took the interviewer, Jeff Glor, to Plum Island, Massachusetts, where ''The Chain'' is set. ''The Chain'' was published in 37 countries.

Reception

Patrick Anderson of the ''Washington Post'' has praised McKinty as a leading light of the "new wave" of Irish crime novelists along with

Ken Bruen Ken Bruen (born 1951) is an Irish writer of hard-boiled and noir crime fiction. Biography Education and teaching career Born in Galway, he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a ...

, Declan Hughes and John Connolly. He often uses the classic noir tropes of revenge and betrayal to explore his characters'

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

quest for meaning in a bleak but lyrically intense universe. Steve Dougherty writing in ''The Wall Street Journal'' praised McKinty's use of irony and humour as a counterpoint to the violent world inhabited by McKinty's Sean Duffy character. Liam McIlvanney, writing in the ''Irish Times'', singled out McKinty's lyrical prose style as the defining characteristic of the Duffy series. Some reviewers have criticised the explicit use of violence in his novels. However, in reviewing McKinty's ''Fifty Grand'' in ''The Guardian'', John O'Connor called him a "master craftsman of violence and redemption, up there with the likes of

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...

." His novel ''The Dead Yard'' was selected by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' as one of the 12 Best Novels of 2006.

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

selected ''Falling Glass'' as the Best Mystery or Thriller of 2011. ''In the Morning I'll Be Gone'' was named as one of the 10 best crime novels of 2014 by the American Library Association. In 2016, ''The Guardian'' included book 5 of the Sean Duffy series, ''Rain Dogs'', about the investigation of a death at

Carrickfergus Castle Carrickfergus Castle (from the Irish ''Carraig Ḟergus'' or "cairn of Fergus", the name "Fergus" meaning "strong man") is a Norman castle in Northern Ireland, situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, on the northern shore of B ...

, in their "The best recent thrillers" coverage.

Awards and honours

*2004

Award shortlist for ''Dead I Well May Be'' * 2007 Audie Award for Best Thriller/Suspense for ''The Dead Yard''. *2008 Young Hoosier Award and Beehive Award shortlist for ''The Lighthouse Land'' *2009

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and copyrig ...

Award longlist for ''The Bloomsday Dead'' *2010 Spinetingler Award for Best Novel for ''Fifty Grand'' *2011 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award longlist for ''Fifty Grand'' *2013 Spinetingler Award for Best Crime Novel for ''The Cold Cold Ground'' *2013 Prix Du Meilleur Polar shortlist for ''The Cold Cold Ground'' *2013 Crime Fest Last Laugh Award shortlist for ''The Cold Cold Ground'' *2013 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel shortlist for ''I Hear the Sirens in the Street'' *2014

Barry Award (for crime novels) The Barry Award is a crime literary prize awarded annually since 1997 by the editors of ''Deadly Pleasures'', an American quarterly publication for crime fiction readers. From 2007 to 2009 the award was jointly presented with the publication ''M ...

for Best Mystery Novel (Paperback Original) for ''I Hear the Sirens in the Street'' * 2014 Grand Prix de Littérature Policière shortlist for ''I Hear the Sirens in the Street'' *2014 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award shortlist for ''I Hear the Sirens in the Street'' *2014

for Best Fiction for ''In the Morning I'll Be Gone'' *2015 Audie Award For Best Thriller shortlist for ''In the Morning I'll Be Gone'' *2015 Prix SNCF Du Polar shortlist for ''The Cold Cold Ground'' * 2015 Ned Kelly Award shortlist for ''Gun Street Girl'' *2015 ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' Best Book of 2015 for ''Gun Street Girl'' *2015 ''Irish Times'' Best Crime Novel of 2015 for ''Gun Street Girl'' *2016

(Best Paperback Original) shortlist for ''Gun Street Girl'' * 2016

for Best Mystery shortlist for ''Gun Street Girl'' *2016 ''Boston Globe'' Best Book of 2016 for ''Rain Dogs'' *2016 ''Irish Times'' Best Crime Novel of 2016 for ''Rain Dogs'' * 2016 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award shortlist for ''Rain Dogs'' *2016

shortlist for ''Rain Dogs'' *2016

shortlist for ''Rain Dogs'' *2017

(Best Paperback Original) for ''Rain Dogs'' *2017 Barry Award for ''Rain Dogs'' *2017

(Best Paperback Original) for ''Rain Dogs'' *2017

for ''Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly'' *2017

Award shortlist for ''Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly'' *2017 ''Boston Globe'' Best Book of 2017 for ''Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly'' *2018

International Thriller Writers Awards The International Thriller Writers Awards are awarded by International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ...

(Best Paperback Original Novel) shortlist for ''Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly'' *2019 ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine Books of the Year for ''The Chain'' *2020

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of ...

2020 winner for ''The Chain.'' *2020 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award longlist for ''The Chain''; CWA Body in the Library longlist for ''The Chain'' *2020

International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six months later, some 150 authors with more than one billion books sold worldwide h ...

Award for Best Hardcover Novel, ''The Chain.'' *2020 Ned Kelly Award for Best International Crime Fiction for ''The Chain.'' *2020

Macavity Awards The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

for Best Mystery Novel by

Mystery Readers International Mystery Readers International is a fan/reader organization open to all readers, fans, critics, editors, publishers, and writers of Mystery fiction. It was founded by Janet A. Rudolph in Berkeley, California. It publishes the ''Mystery Readers Jo ...

for ''The Chain.'' *2020

for Best Mystery Novel for ''The Chain.'' *202
Best Thrillers of 2022
for ''The Island''. ''New York Times''

Bibliography

Michael Forsythe Trilogy

#''

'' (Scribner) 2003 #''The Dead Yard'' (Scribner) 2006 #''The Bloomsday Dead'' (Scribner) 2007

The Lighthouse Trilogy

#''The Lighthouse Land'' (Abrams) 2006 #''The Lighthouse War'' (Abrams) 2007 #''The Lighthouse Keepers'' (Abrams) 2008

The Sean Duffy series

#'' The Cold Cold Ground'' (Serpents Tail) 2012 #'' I Hear the Sirens in the Street'' (Serpents Tail) 2013 #'' In the Morning I'll Be Gone'' (Serpents Tail) 2014 #''Gun Street Girl'' (Serpents Tail) 2015 #''Rain Dogs'' (Serpents Tail) 2016 #''Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly'' (Serpents Tail) 2017 #''The Detective Up Late'' (Blackstone) 2022 #''Hang On St Christopher'' (Blackstone) TBD # ''The Ghosts Of Saturday Night'' TBD Two more Sean Duffy novels to be published by Blackstone Publishing On a blog post dated July 15, 2021 on his oficcial site, McKinty explains that the 7th Sean Duffy novel (''The Detective Up Late'') may be out in late 2022. He states that ''The Detective Up Late'' is in fact finished and Book 8 (''Hang On St Christopher'') is pretty much done, and that early versions of these two novels have already appeared in German language editions. ''The Detective Up Late'' was published in Germany with the new title ''Cold Water'' in 2019, and ''Hang On St Christopher'' the following year under the title ''Alter Hund, neue Tricks'' (Old Dog, New Tricks)

Standalone books

*''Orange Rhymes With Everything'' (novella) (Morrow) 1998 *''Hidden River'' (Scribner) 2005 *''Fifty Grand'' (Holt) 2009 *''Falling Glass'' (Serpents Tail) 2011 *''Deviant'' (Abrams) 2011 *''The Sun Is God'' (Serpents Tail in the UK/Seventh Street Books in the US) 2014 *''

The Chain "The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album '' Rumours''. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members ( Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John ...

'' (Orion) 2019 *''

The Island The Island(s) may refer to: Places * Any of various islands around the world, see the list of islands * The Island (Cache County, Utah), an island on the Bear River, Utah * The Island, Chennai, a river island in India * The Island, Chicago, a n ...

'' (Little, Brown and Company) 2022

As editor

*''Belfast Noir'' (Akashic) 2014 with

Stuart Neville Stuart Neville (born 1972) is a Northern Irish author best known for his novel ''The Twelve'' or, as it is known in the United States, ''The Ghosts of Belfast''. He was born and grew up in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Works ''The Twelve'' was plac ...

Notes and references

External links

Fearless fiction and non-fiction from an award-winning publisher - Serpent's Tail Books

the psychopathology of everyday life - Adrian McKinty's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinty, Adrian Living people 1968 births Male novelists from Northern Ireland Irish mystery writers Alumni of the University of Warwick Alumni of the University of Oxford Northern Ireland emigrants to Australia Ned Kelly Award winners Barry Award winners