Acclaimed Tyrone crime novel based on a true 40-year quest for justice

The novel, which is set along the shores of Lough Neagh and involves a cold case involving the Travelling community, has already been given a star pick of the month by the Sunday Times and was described by its crime fiction critic as ‘beautiful writing about ugly events with a pleasingly serpentine plot’.

“Although Trespass examines how Travellers are the ultimate outsiders in Irish society, it also functions as an entertaining detective thriller”, said Anthony, whose debut novel Disappeared was selected by the Times and the Daily Mail as one of the best books of the year.

“In a way that is the most generous thing you can do as a writer, to entertain your readers, and somehow encourage them to examine the sort of thing they would normally turn away from in their normal lives.

Quinn, who was Libraries NI Writer-in-Residence for 2016, said: “The history of the Troubles is a long one, full of suspended secrets and lies, and many of its stories have yet to be told or have been lost along the way.

“Sometimes the most powerful stories are those that are hidden for years, and only re-discovered when society has moved on and is better equipped to deal with the painful truth.”

He said that the inspiration for Trespass came from a story he’d heard about a forty-year quest for justice.

“One of the blessings and curses of my profession in such a close-knit community is that people tell me many stories”, he said.

“Occasionally, someone will tell a tale so powerful that it etches itself deeply in my imagination, reconfiguring with its long shadows the place I call home, this corner of the world that turns out to be a landscape saturated with secrets.”

“In my Celcius Daly detective series, set along the Northern Ireland border, I use the conventions of the detective genre to excavate the secret narratives of my locale.

Quinn’s six novels have received international acclaim, with the book critics of the Washington Post, the LA Times and the San Francisco Chronicle shortlisting his work for a Strand Literary Award. In 2014, he was awarded an Artists Career Enhancement Bursary by the NI Arts Council. He has also been long-listed for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year.

For more information visit www.anthonyjquinnwriter.com