NEwsLetter

Dear Reader,

As 2024 rumbles towards a close, it would be remiss not to send out a final missive, just to let you know that I'm alive and well—and have wine stocked up for the dark nights to come, because I'm sure you're concerned for my wellbeing.

I'm currently sitting in my office, with the dogs keeping me company. On my desktop are the second draft of the (non-Parker) thriller for 2026 and the first 5,000 words of a Parker novel for 2027, while the corrected proofs for next year’s book—of which more anon—have recently been sent to my publishers, in case you were wondering what might be on the way for the years to come. In the background, conversations about assorted TV and film projects continue, but that yacht and faithful manservant remain elusive. For the present, I'll just have to continue looking a pictures of distant marinas and reading Jeeves & Wooster stories. But in case you fancy contributing to the "Buy John a Yacht and Manservant Fund" . . .

Last-minute Christmas gifts

Have I mentioned that books make wonderful last-minute Christmas gifts? Even the Connolly completists may not have acquired all four books I wrote or contributed to in 2024:

• The Instruments of Darkness, the 21st Charlie Parker novel, was published in the UK, Ireland,and Australia in April, and in the US in May.

• Night & Day, my third collection of shorter pieces, came out in October in North America, Ireland, the UK, and Australia.

• 25—Celebrating 25 Years of Goldsboro Books is a limited-edition collection of short stories by an all-star lineup of authors, with an introduction written by myself; most of us signed all the copies, and a few are still available, exclusively from Goldsboro.

• Beyond & Within: Folk Horror, an anthology edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan, includes a short story of mine called "The Well."

My home stores—The Gutter Bookshop and Alan Hanna’s Bookshop in Dublin, No Alibis in Belfast, and Goldsboro in London—are the best places to look for signed copies. Bridge Books in Dromore, Roe River Books in Dundalk, and O'Mahony's Books in Limerick, Ennis, and Tralee may still have signed books in stock, as well. Some of them will also have the rather splendid steel bookmarks that accompanied both Instruments and Night & Day.