New2theScene

Gary Donnelly

Gary Donnelly

Gary Donnelly is a crime and thriller writer from Belfast who lives and works in London. BLOOD WILL BE BORN is the first in the DI Owen Sheen Belfast thriller series, published by Allison and Busby in February 2020 with the sequel, KILLING IN YOUR NAME, to follow in September 2020.The audiobook, published by Isis Publishing Ltd, is spoken by Irish actor Stephen Armstrong. Adrian McKinty, the award-winning author of The Chain, had this to say about the book: “A twisty, violent, cop thriller set in post-conflict Belfast... Brilliant. Gary Donnelly is an exciting new voice in Northern Irish noir.”

Gary attended a state comprehensive school in west Belfast, read History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and has lived and worked in London since the late 1990s. In his time he has been a Belfast cemetery manager, a business conference organiser in the City, a council gardener in Neasdon, and gained a further degree in Psychology, which he teaches in north London. Gary is married to the lovely Sacha and has two non-returnable children. He can cook up a storm and play a mean guitar (after a few drinks).

Gary has this to say about his writing:

“I always wanted to write a novel and after I enrolled on a course at the City Lit two years ago, the initial outline of BLOOD WILL BE BORN emerged from one of the homework exercises. But the story has been incubating for much longer. I left Belfast 20 years ago but you see it never really left me. The course finished, and I kept writing; on my day off, weekends and while travelling into work. I took the first 3000 words to Crimefest 2016’s Pitch an Agent slot and some top-flight agents gave the sample and the synopsis and big thumbs up, which was very encouraging. Enough, in fact, to get up at 5am to write before work, and finish the first draft.”

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Books by

Gary

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Never Ask the Dead

Book 3 of 3: DI Owen Sheen

When only the dead have the answers, who can tell you the truth? DI Owen Sheen and DC Aoife McCusker are back working on the reformed Serious Historic Offences Team in Belfast, although the hands-on approach of the chief constable and the political agendas at play are a struggle to manage. And that's before a cryptic message from a retired, and now missing, cop begins to prey on Sheen s mind. The note Tom 'Tucker' Rodgers sent says that they killed his friend, and now they re coming for him. Sheen and Aoife s search for Tucker and the truth places them on the path of the most highly placed IRA double agent of the Troubles, as well as another man with an old score to settle.

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Killing in Your Name

Book 2 of 3: DI Owen Sheen

A boy's body is found in bogland: a case as cold as the earth that has hidden it for so long and an echo of Northern Ireland's darkest hours. DI Owen Sheen has sworn to get justice for the unnamed boy and digs up links to a covert British Army unit that was operating in the 1970s. But as fresh bodies start to litter the streets of Belfast, Sheen and DC Aoife McCusker, who is fighting to restore her professional reputation, must make the connection and stop a killer hellbent on revenge.

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Blood Will Be Born

Book 1 of 3: DI Owen Sheen

DI Owen Sheen vowed never to return to Ireland, but he needs answers to the questions he has surrounding his brother's death. On loan from the Met to the PSNI, he is meant to be setting up a new Historical Offences Team, but instead he finds himself partnered with DC Aoife McCusker to work on her first murder investigation. As the investigation begins to unravel into chaos, its roots deep in the dark past of the Troubles, will Sheen be able to put his personal agenda aside? And will McCusker keep her career long enough to crack the case and prove herself as a detective?

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