John Connolly

In my last blog I spoke about my high regard for the crime writing of James Lee Burke, particularly the Louisiana-set series starring Dave Robicheaux. Burke is my hero, but there are plenty of other detective writers I enjoy and admire.
Burke’s novels often brush against the veil between this world and the next, but seldom more than obliquely; one is left wondering if the hero has indeed felt or witnessed something otherworldly. To my mind, the most overt example of this is when Robicheaux begins communicating with the phantom of an old Confederate general in ‘In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead’, but even then one is never wholly sure if the detective, who is under great emotional strain, is hallucinating.
John Connolly, an Irishman who I believe is based in the United States, is a terrific writer and the creator of the fine Charlie Parker series. He is also a fan of Burke. I first discovered Connolly after I had written several drafts of my crime debut ‘The Ghost of Helen Addison,’ and as well as enjoying the stories they also gave me great encouragement. This was because it was at a time when I was struggling to find a publisher, and although I felt proud of my book, I did harbour some doubts as to whether I had busted the confines of the genre beyond the tolerances of publishers. You see, booksellers tend to like things to fit in their neat little places. Although The Ghost Helen Addison is ostensibly crime fiction, as the title suggests it contains a not inconsiderable dose of the supernatural. Leo Moran is a psychic detective but that’s only part of the uncanny goings-on. Anyway, Connolly’s books gave me solace because they cross over to the supernatural even more regularly than I do. In fact, read a certain way Connolly’s hero is up against legions of demons who have assumed human form, making my Leo series positively orthodox crime writing in comparison. Due to its tone and style, I’d still classify Connolly’s work as crime fiction; but he skilfully and convincingly plunders the supernatural genre with regularity.