Mystery author Mary Higgins Clark is the grand marshal for this year's Saint Patrick's Day Parade at 11 a.m. today, which this year marks the parade's 250th anniversary. Clark said of the honor, "It never occurred to me. Last year I congratulated Ray Kelly, [Police] Commissioner Kelly. And I said, what an honor it must be to be the head of the parade. I no more envisioned myself doing it than I envisioned being on a rocket to the moon."
Janet Rudolph has a lineup of St. Patrick's day mysteries over at her Mystery Fanfare blog. My favorite title of the lot: Paddy Whacked (by S. Furlong-Bollinger).
Peter Rozovky's Detectives Beyond Borders blog looks at some upcoming titles from Soho, which set him thinking about Northern Irish crime writing recently and how one of its big themes is that tentative sectarian peace leaves paramilitary gunmen on both sides of The Troubles unemployed—and ready to move into "ordinary" crime.
Craig Sisterson revisits the 9mm-author interviews he's done with writers from the Emerald Isle, including a trio of terrific Irish crime writers: Rob Kitchin, Declan Burke, and John Connolly (who's also been a journalist for the Irish Times). Declan Burke talks about his current home town of Wicklow, called "the Garden of Ireland," as well as his childhood home of Sligo, which has an ancient history including perfectly preserved settlements at Carrowkeel that predate the better-known Newgrange by about 500 years and the Egyptian pyramids by about 1,000 years.
In case you missed the recent Val McDermit interview, check out this link where she chats with Gerard O'Donovan for The Telegraph about why Irish crime fiction is all the rage and the documentary she made on the subject for Radio 4, titled Emerald Noir (which is unfortunately no longer available online). She notes that "Ireland, north and south, has gone through seismic changes. That's given Irish writers a challenge of material. You really have got something to write about."
For some of those Irish authors Val mentions (and more), hop on over to the web sites of Benjamin Black, Gerard Brennan, Ken Bruen, Declan Burke, John Connolly, Tana French, Declan Hughes and Stuart Neville.
The Irish Times notes this year's St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin will be led not by a theme, not by a historical figure or event, not by a thousand shades of green but by a new short story, Roddy Doyle's "Brilliant," commissioned for the occasion and brought to life by street-theatre groups and performance artists. Reporter Arminta Wallace also talks with some Irish crime fiction authors about how Dublin has changed in recent years and how writers are using that in their novels.
For all you Michael Flatley fans (you know who you are, even if you don't want to admit it), you can spend your St. Patrick's Day at a showing of the film Lord of the Dance 3-D, which opens worldwide today.
And finally, even Angry Birds are getting into the spirit of the holiday, with a St. Patrick's Day version, complete with green pigs, gold-buckled top hats, a plethora of shamrocks and pots of gold and a "festive" soundtrack.
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