Anyone for a Courtroom Thriller? Steve Cavanagh’s your man
Since 2015 I have championed local crime author Steve Cavanagh after reading his first novel The Defence and meeting him in Ballymena Library. At that time he was still working as a civil rights lawyer and was balancing his writing with his day job. Interestingly all his books are based in the States even though, when he first started writing, he had never travelled there. His love of American crime novels helped to inform him in the early days - and the availability of Google earth to set his stories in recognisable locations was invaluable. He explains that he wanted to make sure he could not be accused of writing about any cases that he had worked on. American law and court system is so completely different to the UK that it gives him distance and freedom in his plots.
He has created his series of books around Eddie Flynn, a trickster come lawyer in the seedier parts of New York, whose modus operandi is unconventional to say the least. Eddie is a force to be reckoned with and investigates his cases as well as fighting them in court – often in the face of real personal danger. As the series has progresses the cases have grown darker with many unforeseeable twists and turns which take the readers on a roller coaster ride right to the very end
The Plea and The Liar followed on from The Defence and Steve was welcomed into the Crime authors fraternity with great enthusiasm. He has a great sense of humour and is well known now as a popular panellist at Crime festivals around the country and abroad. With his popularity and success he has been able to give up the ‘dayjob’ and now writes full time with the support of his family, and especially his wife Tracy who is his first reader and sounding block for new ideas. Last year Belfast Central Library was pleased to host Steve in an interview by Stuart Neville (pictured) during Book Week NI to an enthusiastic audience – it was a very entertaining interview with lots of laughs and insights into the literary crime world.
Authors Stuart Neville (on left) and Steve Cavanagh (on right)
Thirteen, Fifty Fifty, The Devil’s Advocate and The Accomplice are his more recent Eddie Flynn novels as well as a standalone thriller Twisted which is what it says on the tin! The plot twists and turns keeping the reader on their toes until the final revelation. Definitely one to pick up if you like a cliff hanger.
He has a string of well-deserved nominations and awards under his belt and his fans wait expectantly each year for the next Eddie Flynn to drop. If you are a crime fan, like a courtroom drama with a good dose of thriller, you will surely enjoy these!
Steve Cavanagh titles on the Catalogue
