It has been a long, long time...

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that I had succumbed to the icy north winds here in sunny Sweden. The fact, as usual, is less fascinating than the fiction.

I've moved into the PR game and actually started to write again. It has been a while, but I feel the stirrings of yore and the priapic predisposition to pontificate, exaggerate and generally make stuff up.

So you can expect another epistle from the Frozen North, in the coming months.

I wish you a resolutely Happy New Year!

T.S.

I've been a bad boy....

I'm getting pangs of guilt. I haven't written anything or posted anything in months. I guess the summer just sucked the life out of me. I am however, starting to feel a distinct stirring in my sub-conscious that will, no doubt, spew forth another piece of Modern Noir in the coming months.

I've been concentrating pretty much on my other interest - making and selling straight razors.... so you see my creative juices needs must flow - and they have been...

Below you'll find a couple of examples of what this crime writer does when he's not killing bad guys and getting laid by lusty dames....

If any of you are man (or woman) enough to scrape your hairy bits with a piece of razor sharp steel, drop by my Etsy shop or look for me on eBay.

I'll start drinking more and pounding the keyboard again shortly...

A couple of nice reviews...

My mainstream literary novel Killing a Friend just received its second review. It's short and it's very nice :)

Superb *****
"Killing a Friend will draw you in to the emotions of the characters in this book. You will feel their happiness, their confusion, and, ultimately, their pain. I finished the book yesterday, yet, today am still contemplating the joy and sorrow of Jack, Angel and Wolf. It is a very well written book and one I will remember for a long time..."

I've also had a few decent reviews of Ganglands recently in the UK, where it has been selling quite well in recent months...

"If you want a gritty story that holds you till the end then you won't get much better."

"Very compulsive read."

It's all good!

"The Ginger Man for Modern Times"

I've been flattered beyond belief. J.P. Donleavy is one of my all time favourite authors. His first novel, The Ginger Man is one I have read at least six times. And it gets better with every reading. I've read practically everything since then that Mr. Donleavy has produced.

So it was with humble gratitude that I read the first review of my novel The Libertine....

A five star review that one could not even pay for.

Click here to see the review

A New Shot of Modern Noir: The Club

My latest noir novelette, The Club, has just been published in eBook format.

The Club is a story built around a rich married couple whose teenage daughter goes missing following a seedy sex party at an exclusive private members' club.


With nowhere else to turn and having been let down by the first private eye they hired, the aging couple turn to P.I. Jimmy O'Hanlon, who sets off to discover the sordid and sad truth behind the teenager's disappearance.

In order to make a meal out if it I've also published my three shots of modern noir in one volume, entitled Sharp Shots. It is available via Amazon at a special launch price.


Click here to get to my Amazon author's page


In this volume you can find:
- The Club
- Sunset Strip
- Candy Says Kill


Dip your toes in the world of Modern Noir...

Death Call in print once again...

After almost thirteen years out of print, Death Call will be once again made available in dead tree format under the Breffni Books imprint, published via our friend Jeff Bezos at Amazon.


Kindle sales were doing so well that I thought it would be a good idea to re-release this one in print. Other old titles may follow... 


Death Call is available through normal sales channels at a rather reasonable price.... 


Here's the direct link...

Good reviews are always welcome!


The blurb looks like this:


It was all he could do to stop his hangover from spilling out onto the victim as he studied her neck and what he made out to be the initial puncture wound in her abdomen. From that point, he thought, she had been opened like an envelope with a paper knife, revealing a mess of entrails and blood.

With a deranged serial killer on the loose, Detective Sergeant Dan Carroll and his new partner Detective Constable Samuel Grant find themselves trawling the seedy side of London in search of a brutal killer who preys on prostitutes.

A Shot of Modern Noir.


And I've added one or two words of praise from the Paddy Pack (the Irish Crime Writer's fraternity), including the one from the original print version from Eugene McEldowney.



"Death Call is a rattling good read and T.S. O'Rourke is a crime writer to watch."
Eugene McEldowney, crime writer


"As blunt and effective as the average anvil, TS O'Rourke's prose in Death Call was hardboiled, pickled and left out to dry under a post-apocalyptic sun."
Declan Burke - crime writer and blogger extraordinaire

Dark Days of Summer - Sale

I'm on vacation. And I'm guessing that most of you will be on vacation soon enough (or perhaps not quite soon enough - I know that feeling too).

In order to celebrate the coming (but so far elusive) sunshine I've slashed the prices on all of my books and short stories...

So if you are in the mood for some Modern Noir this summer look no further

You can find the books on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/T.-S.-ORourke/e/B001KCID38
or on Amazon.co.uk here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/T.-S.-ORourke/e/B001KCID38

Have a good one!

An intelligent and insightful book....

I'm not easily flattered. I guess I'm too cynical for that. I always look for a motive. Perhaps that's why I enjoy writing crime/noir stuff so much.

So it was with something of a shock that I discovered the 'perfect review' if such a thing exists, for my historical fiction/faction novel The Republican: An Irish Civil War Story.

To prove that I'm not imagining things or making stuff up I've added the link below.

REVIEW

There - you see... I'm not imagining it, am I? 

Another Shot of Modern Noir in the works...

I've been beavering away on a new noir novelette (a little alliteration is good for the soul) and I'm quite pleased with it. Should be finished in the next month or two... time permitting.

Here's the general gist of the story....

Working title 'The Club'

A wealthy couple join an exclusive club and are invited to participate in rather unusual activities at a party. Both man and wife and their teenage daughter are separated during these activities and they each go through a series of 'tests' that will define their position in the inner circle of members.
They discover, after the party, that their daughter has mysteriously disappeared. No one saw her leave the club grounds...
Finding little solace in the club's management or the local police department, the exasperated couple turn to hiring a private eye to find their daughter.... But can they reveal what went on at the party? And is that connected to their daughter's disappearance?

Coming soon!

Killing me softly....

Every now and then I run a book promotion to get a little notice out in the big bad world.


My mainstream literary novel, Killing a Friend, will be available for free on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk in ebook format for the next several days, starting later today/early tomorrow. Here's the cover blurb. It's a mix of love and rage, set in exotic West Sweden...

Killing a Friend is a novel about people that love each other, about friends, acquaintances and life partners.

Lost souls clinging to the familiar, despite their better judgment - a story that takes normal life one step further.

Two friends, two artists, two men that love the same woman - a tragedy, an unforgivable able deception and a chance to begin again.

Killing a Friend is a book of love, longing and lust.

You can find the book here on Amazon.com

Or here on Amazon.co.uk

A Cracker of a Book.... a four star review of Death Call

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cracker of a book, 29 Feb 2012

By 

Mr. Stephen D. Wassell "sdwassell" (Norfolk, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death Call: The London Serial Killer Case (Carroll & Grant Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

I hate it when I read " I couldn't put this book down" because I always find myself let down. However, in this case If I had read that sentence about "Death Call" I would have had to agree with it. I was hooked on it from the start. It has pace throughout and vivid descriptions of both the crimes and the two totally different people who, by virtue of their job, have to work together to solve them. it's a very readable crime novel and, personally, I found it almost a throwback to the likes of John Creasey. If you like a decent 'tec book get this one. One quibble, a couple of the(thankfully short) sex scenes could have been omitted without any detriment to the book. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

Death Call at Amazon.co.uk

Death Call hits a high point!

I'm humbled and delighted.


Death Call, written in the heady days of 1996 and published for the first time in paperback in 1997, has just climbed mysteriously high in the UK in eBook format.


At the last count it was number 11 in Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > British Detectives

To quote our friend and crime novelist extraordinaire Declan Burke over on Crime Always Pays, here are the words of the wee blurb elves....

"It was all he could do to stop his hangover from spilling out onto the victim as he studied her neck and what he made out to be the initial puncture wound in her abdomen. From that point, he thought, she had been opened like an envelope with a paper knife, revealing a mess of entrails and blood.

With a deranged serial killer on the loose, Detective Sergeant Dan Carroll and his new partner Detective Constable Samuel Grant find themselves trawling the seedy side of London in search of a brutal killer who preys on prostitutes.

A Shot of Modern Noir.

T.S. O'Rourke's writing has been declared powerful, beautiful and hard-boiled by both readers and critics alike."

If you like hard-boiled London-based serial killer stories that come with a sense of humour, a smattering of steamy sex and a little social commentary on the state of the underbelly, then you might like this. And for those of you that do, you might also like Death Call's follow-up, Damned Nation (which has also spiked in terms of sales recently, I'm delighted to say).

Here's the UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003X978GO
And for the rest of the world, via Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X978GO

Thank you all!

Review: "A Noir Streak as Deep as a Femme Fatale's Cleavage"

I just recently received a very gratifying review over on amazon.com for my novelette Candy Says Kill, which I've copied and pasted below, with another earlier review below it...

4.0 out of 5 stars Mick Says Cool: A Shot of Unruly Review, January 12, 2012

By 

M. Halpin (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Candy Says Kill: A Shot of Modern Noir (Kindle Edition)

I read Candy Says Kill yesterday in two sittings- it's a jawbreaker. (That's a candy that lasts a good long while, for anyone not familiar.) Some of the layers: 
- New York hood, 
- backwoods beauty, 
- seedy bar, 
- cheap motel, 
- rednecks swinging axe handles, 
- roundhouse kicks, 
- stolen cars, 
- showercaps. 
- and blood. Lots and lots o' blood. 


T.S. O'Rourke has a Noir streak deep as any femme fatale's cleavage- and just as much fun. Reknowned Alabama Public Radio reviewer Don Noble would ask in wonder if the author has ever actually spent a night drinking with locals in an Alabama town, but Candy would just say Kill.

4.0 out of 5 stars Rusting quietly, March 29, 2011

By 

David H Fears - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Candy Says Kill: A Shot of Modern Noir (Kindle Edition)

This is a fast-paced, powerful short story that turns on a coincidence--a man who has killed before for money stops in a small Alabama town and the bartender's young and gorgeous wife takes him for the contract killer she ordered. His lust and experience lead him to take advantage of the situation, with some chilling and realistic dialog and action. They say every good short story could be a novel and every bad novel might be a short story. This is a good one, and God knows it's harder to write a good short story than a novel. I write hardboiled stuff and this one fits the bill nicely in a more modern setting. Well worth the price.

Candy Says Kill Free for just today!

Click here to avail of this promotional offer!

Ganglands update

I'm slowly but surely going through all the covers of my existing books and short stories trying apply a sense of order.
I'm not a great one for order or processes, so it will most likely take some time to get them all done....
Howsoever, to wit, herewith and without further ado, I present the updated Ganglands cover.

Hope y'all like it!

Sunset Strip: A Shot of Modern Noir

I've finally gotten around to finishing my latest novelette/novella Sunset Strip, set in L.A.

The story follows a man visiting L.A. on business as he picks up a beautiful Latina in a bar close to his hotel. The two hit it off after some initial foreplay and end up going to his room to get a little more 'comfortable'. What happens next is well.... unusual, to say the least.

Taking cues from the greats and adding a nice twist in the tail, this piece of Modern Noir will keep you guessing to the end.

You can find the book here!

Noir Shot Update... and Killing in print

http://www.lafterhall.com/filmnoir_001.html

I've finally gotten around to making Killing a Friend available in print via our good friends at Amazon's Createspace. So if eBooks ain't your thang you can now buy a paperback version. And very nice it is too.

You can find it here:
 http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Friend-T-S-ORourke/dp/1456515829

As far as my Hollywood Noir short shot of Noir is concerned I've been a busy wee hack and passed my usual finish line in terms of short story length. So it'll be a long short story or a short novella - maybe a shortella... I like that....

I'm hoping to have it finished, proofed and ready to rock into your Xmas stockings. But knowing me you'll not get it until January when you need something new to read on your Kindle Fire...

Killing a Friend - special winter warmer price for all my friends...

I've knocked down the price on my mainstream literary novel Killing a Friend just to give it a wee nudge forward.

I don't know why (maybe because I haven't used 'sex' or 'serial killer' in the any of the marketing blurb) but it hasn't really moved very well - despite getting a humdinger of a first review a few months back, where I was described as a 'Beautiful Literary Voice' (doesn't get much better for an old Noir Hack like me).

Anyway, I've updated the cover art and dropped the price and I can guarantee sex, death, betrayal, bisexuality, abortion and suicide in fairly ample doses.

Dip your toes in while it's on sale!

It's also a precursor to the second print edition which will be on sale shortly via Amazon and other select sales channels.

Killing a Friend on Amazon.com

Angel City

I've gotten off my proverbial fat ass and started to write a new shot of Noir, while my ongoing battle with my novel Flesh carries on...

I'll be basing this one in the U.S. - Los Angeles to be precise - the home of Noir in my most humble of opinions...

Given the locale and the history of Noir that the fine city of angles has given birth to, I'll be treading carefully on the hallowed grounds before me.

I've been to L.A. around five times now and I've been taking copious notes and building a story in my head for the last few months. Now the hard work begins... or should I say, now the hard work has BEGUN...

Watch this space for a new Shot of Modern Noir...

We can see the stars - especially from the gutter...

I've mentioned Out of the Gutter previously - and I couldn't help but mention them again.

In their latest edition we find the US and the UK slugging it out for the world championship in pulp fiction. We see top-grade lowlife writers such as Tony Black slugging it out with the likes of E.E. Howard and Julie Morgan.

If you like your fiction hard, heavy and a little on the moist side, Out of the Gutter will serve up a right hook, followed by a jab that will leave you with a grin that stretches from ear to ear, much like the type you might get in an old Glasgow pub on displaying the wrong attitude on a cool October Saturday night.

Keep smiling.., and click here...