Brian McGilloway is author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Benedict Devlin series. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. After studying English at Queen’s University, Belfast, he took up a teaching position in St Columb’s College in Derry, where he is currently Head of English.

His first novel, Borderlands, published by Macmillan New Writing, was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger 2007 and was hailed by The Times as ‘one of (2007’s) most impressive debuts.’ The second novel in the series, Gallows Lane, was shortlisted for both the 2009 Irish Book Awards/Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2010. Bleed A River Deep, the third Devlin novel, was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of their Best Books of 2010. The fourth novel, The Rising, will be published in paperback in May 2011 alongside the new standalone novel, Little Girl Lost, featuring DS Lucy Black.

Brian lives near the Irish borderlands with his wife and their four children.

Are you a bookgeek?

I think all writers have to be. Admittedly, writing, working and normal daily living have reduced my reading time considerably. I have a TBR pile waiting for me to finish my next book in the next few weeks.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given (and do you follow it)?

Write every day – and I do try to when I’m writing. I aim for about 1,000 words per day – some days I manage more, some less. But the key is to keep doing it, even when you don’t really feel like it.

Which authors do you find most inspiring as a writer?

John Connolly showed that Irish writers could tackle crime. James Lee Burke has shown just how good crime writing can be – and a dogged sense of persistence in finally publishing The Lost Get Back Boogie after 113 rejections over 9 years – and then being nominated for a Pulitzer upon eventual publication.

Do you have an audience in mind when writing, or do you just write for yourself?

When I started, I wrote for myself. I think though, that with each book, I’m more aware that there are people who will buy and read that book. That does bring pressure with it, though it is only pressure to ensure the book is the best I can make it.

Where do you write, and why?

Wherever I can – my study, cafes, wherever is quiet. We have four children aged between 1 and 8. I can’t be picky about the where or when of writing I’m afraid.

Tell us the book you most wish you had written.

None – If I’d written them they’d not be anything like what makes them great. The Great Gatsby is a favourite of mine. Or The Mooonstone.

There’s a sense in Little Girl Lost that the old politics are dying and a new way is coming. With that in mind, could the book have worked with a curmudgeonly old male detective as the lead?

I think it was important in so many ways for me that Lucy is who she is. I wanted to write something and someone different from Devlin, my recurring series character. I also wanted to present a different face for Northern Ireland. And I needed someone with a depth of empathy for those with whom she comes into contact that would drive her to do the things she does in the book. I think Lucy has that in a way an old, cynical male detective might not. Plus, of course, there are a number of lost girls in this book – and Lucy is the main one.

After the events of Little Girl Lost, is there any chance of a detente between Lucy Black and her mother?

I do think the next book featuring Lucy will focus on mother-daughter relationships in the way that LGL focuses on fathers and daughters. That said, I have a very definite arc for the Lucy stories and I know how it will end. Her mother is integral to it.

Are you planning to carry on with the Devlin series, or are you devoting all your efforts now to DS Black?

At the minute I’m finishing off the next Devlin. The next book I’m planning will probably be a Lucy book, so it would appear that naturally they will alternate – that is if there is an appetite for them both. I suppose I still want to find out more about them both, so I feel compelled to keep writing about them.

What role do you think crime writing has to play, if any, in coming to terms with the Troubles?

I’m not sure about coming to terms with it so much as reflecting a society becoming acclimatized to peace. I believe crime fiction allows us to vicariously face our fears and undergo so form of catharsis in the knowledge that a order of sorts will be instated by the end, that justice will be done in some way. There was no need for vicarious experiences of fear when people were being shot on the streets. Books about the Troubles never really interested me as I don’t think it’s the North’s only national identity. I enjoy writing about ordinary crimes which are, perhaps, infected by the history of the country.

There’s a fine tradition of Irish writing, although it’s tended to be more literary than genre-based. Do you consider yourself to exist as a result of this, or in spite of it?

I think the genre-fiction rate is rising rapidly. Both chick lit and crime fiction have seen an explosion of talent in Ireland over the past number of years. Perhaps genre fiction is better placed to respond to the changes in society better that the literary novel, or perhaps the generation of writers now are reacting against the older style of Irish novel. Personally, I think crime fiction is a perfect medium for examining a society, from top to bottom.

Additional questions by Mike Stafford

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