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Adrian McKinty is an award-winning novelist from Ireland that writes crime, mystery, and YA novels. Born in 1968 in Belfast, McKinty was one of five children. The son of a welder and boilermaker, he read a lot of science fiction and fantasy when he was young. But publishing wasn’t necessarily on his radar, not where his career path was concerned.
Order of Michael Forsythe Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dead I Well May Be | 2003 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Dead Yard | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Bloomsday Dead | 2007 | Description / Buy |
Order of Lighthouse Trilogy Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lighthouse Land | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Lighthouse War | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Lighthouse Keepers | 2008 | Description / Buy |
Order of Detective Sean Duffy Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cold Cold Ground | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | I Hear the Sirens in the Street | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | In the Morning I'll Be Gone | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Gun Street Girl | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Rain Dogs | 2015 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly | 2017 | Description / Buy |
Order of Adrian McKinty Standalone Novels
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orange Rhymes With Everything | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Hidden River | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Fifty Grand | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Falling Glass | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Deviant | 2011 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | The Sun Is God | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | The Chain | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | The Island | 2022 | Description / Buy |
Adrian McKinty Anthologies
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OxCrimes: 27 Killer Stories from the Cream of Crimewriters | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Belfast Noir | 2014 | Description / Buy |
McKinty attended the University of Warwick from where he studied Law. He also dipped his toes into politics and philosophy (University of Oxford). But his was hardly the life of a scholar. The father and husband moved to the US in 1993.
After settling down in New York, he did a number of odd jobs, working as a bartender, librarian, and a rugby coach, to mention but a few. McKinty only found stability once he moved to Denver, becoming the English teacher at a high school.
His writing career officially began in 2003 when ‘Dead I Well May Be’, his debut novel, was published. He became a full-time writer in 2008 after moving the family to Melbourne in Australia; though, McKinty’s career was far from conventional.
He kicked his career off with the Michael Forsythe Trilogy. Then he jumped into the YA science fiction arena with the Lighthouse Trilogy. However, none of those works produced the traction that McKinty’s career needed.
Everyone that read his stories took note of his talent. However, his novels were not popular enough for McKinty to categorize himself as a successful author. The people that knew him at the time will tell you that the Sean Duffy series changed everything.
The books told the tales of a constabulary sergeant plying his trade during the troubles. Their success convinced Adrian McKinty that he had been right to dedicate his life to writing and publishing. They didn’t sell all that well.
But at the time, that did not matter. The series was a critical hit, earning McKinty the best reviews of his entire career. The books also received numerous awards and nominations. It was all the encouragement the author needed to keep writing the Sean Duffy series.
He admitted later on that he was a little reluctant to tell so many stories set during Northern Ireland’s darkest years. But he was also certain that his hard work would produce dividends down the line once his writing star exploded and the financial rewards started pouring in.
It came as quite a surprise for McKinty and those who knew him when the author quit writing. This happened in 2017. Despite all the rave reviews surrounding his work, McKinty wasn’t selling enough copies of his books to earn a decent income from his writing.
He finally threw in the towel when his family was evicted from their house. Certain that the publishing field had nothing more to offer him, McKinty started driving for Uber and bartending to make ends meet.
He was quite sure that his writing days were behind him. It took a conversation over the phone with producer Shane Salerno to change his mind. Don Winslow, a fellow writer, heard about McKinty’s situation. He reached out to Salerno who called McKinty, offering him a $10,000 advance to write a new book.
Grateful for the money and the opportunity to write again, Adrian McKinty wrote ‘The Chain’, the book that finally brought a tangible change to his life. It secured the author a six-figure book deal and cemented his place in the publishing arena.
Adrian McKinty Awards
McKinty’s novels have won the Edgar, Ned Kelly, Barry, Audie, and Anthony Awards.
Best Adrian McKinty Books
McKinty has been praised for his use of irony, humor, and classic noir tropes, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:
The Chain: The Chain asks readers to imagine a bizarre scenario in which a parent’s child is kidnapped. The only way to get that child back is to kidnap another parent’s child. It is a chain, one in which old parents draw new parents into a kidnapping scheme in an effort to safeguard the life of their child.
The Cold Cold Ground: Detective Sergeant Duffy is a catholic policeman trying to keep the peace in 1981. Because it’s 1981, no one trusts him. People are rioting. Communities are starving. A serial killer is on the loose, and Duffy must catch him despite the opposition that meets him wherever he goes.
When Does The Next Adrian McKinty book come out?
Adrian McKinty doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Island and was released on May, 17th 2022.
I’ve also been waiting (endlessly, it seems) for the next Sean Duffy books. I have a feeling that Adrian McKinty’s new manager and publishers aren’t very interested in Sean Duffy. Their *official* website site for McKinty includes only the first 5 books, with absolutely no reference to “Police at the Station…” (but “Rain Dogs” is “ON SALE NOW!”). I emailed the “professional contact” indicated on the “Contact” page to let him know about this. I received no response, and the still doesn’t mention “Police at the Station….” Perhaps there’s some arrangement where his previous publisher retained the rights to the book for a certain period of time? That’s the only reason I could think of to justify not listing all of the books you have to sell. My understanding is that the next *three* Duffy books were completed some time ago. Of course, I’m pleased that Adrian McKinty has had so much “big time” success with “The Chain” and “The Island” and I hope he continues to get lots and lots of money–he deserves it. I admit that I don’t understand the complexities of marketing, and can’t see how releasing “The Detective Up Late” would interfere with the sales/success of his “big time” books. The only way I can make sense of things is to consider that “the big people who make the big decisions”–for whatever reason–don’t care about the Sean Duffy books. (I’m thinking back to the days when record companies would refuse to release an artist’s album out of “concern” for the artist’s career.) Of course, I really have *no clue* what’s really going on.
What happened to “The Detective Up Late”? I have been hoping it will be published in English soon as that series and Michael Forsythe and the gypsy are so good. His dry humor pokes through all the murder and mayhem and I delight in his characters. Chain and Island did not appeal to me.
The last update I could see was from last year hoping for a publication of September 2022. Said it was related to the pandemic why there was a delay. Haven’t seen any updates since unfortunately.