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Book Nook: Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty

Adrian McKinty is my favorite Irish crime writer. I have wanted to interview him for years. This interview took a long time to happen. Years, actually. McKinty is the author of a series that is set in Northern Ireland during the period known as The Troubles.

During this interview the author explains how difficult it was to write these books. He had been discouraged in doing so because people kept telling him that nobody wanted to read about that dark period or remember it. But McKinty persevered. I'm so glad that he did.

Detective Sean Duffy is a Catholic officer in the predominately Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary. In this interview McKinty talks about the genesis of this series and how he decided that Sean Duffy would reside in the author's old neighborhood and live in McKinty's childhood home. "Rain Dogs" features a literary device which was in vogue during the 1930's, the locked room murder.

A woman has apparently committed suicide. There's no other way to explain her death. But Duffy thinks otherwise and he's determined to prove that she was murdered. McKinty says it is extremely rare for a detective to even encounter a locked room murder mystery. In Duffy's case he has some experience with them. This is his second one. I love this series.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.