August : Jim Lusby
“The return of a master story-teller… With August, Jim Lusby easily reclaims his place alongside Rankin, McDermid & Connolly.”
Detective Sergeant Jack Mason’s search for an escaped convict is derailed by the discovery of the bodies of three teenagers in the crypt of a deconsecrated church.
Initially the case looks to be straightforward - teenage drug experimentation gone wrong, ending in a tragic double murder and suicide.
Tragic but no great mystery.
Some hope. Much to Mason’s annoyance any chance of a quick resolution become a distant hope when evidence of occult rituals are uncovered at the murder scene.
Jack Mason has no choice but to follow the case wherever it leads. As a result he finds himself embroiled in the dark underside of modern Irish society where the establishment closes ranks to ignore the spectre of institutional child abuse, where organised crime gangs operate an increasingly violent drug trade, and where populist politicians build their reputations whipping up hysteria over immigration.
As the complicated case unfolds, deeply buried memories from Mason’s past begin to resurface causing the competing demands of the investigation and his increasingly chaotic personal life to become almost overwhelming.
About the author
Jim Lusby is probably best known for his series of five crime novels featuring DI Carl McCadden and set around his native Waterford.
The first two books, Making the Cut (1995) and Flashback (1996), were loosely adapted by RTÉ for a television series that was broadcast in 1998.
Sean McGinley played DI McCadden in the TV version. The first feature-length episode was written by John Brown, while Eric Deacon wrote the remaining four. The second season was rebranded under the title DDU (1999).
Lusby also wrote the standalone thriller Serial (2002), which imagined how a serial killer would tell their own story and "control the narrative".
As James Kennedy, he has written two thrillers, Armed and Dangerous (1996), which explores the legacy of the dirty war between the MI5 and IRA, and Silent City (1999), featuring DI Charlotte Rainey.
Lusby is a Hennessy Award winner for his short stories, and has written for the stage and radio, he now lives in Dublin.