C5 John Connolly: The Instruments of Darkness

The number one bestselling author and radio host, John Connolly, joins Joe Haddow for a chat about his new Charlie Parker novel, The Instruments of Darkness. They’ll talk about how to keep a returning character fresh in each book, and why Maine makes a great setting for a crime novel. 

John Connolly is author of the Charlie Parker mysteries, The Book of Lost Things, The Land of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson novels for young adults and, with his partner, Jennifer Ridyard, co-author of the Chronicles of the Invaders. John Connolly's debut – Every Dead Thing - introduced Private Investigator Charlie Parker, and launched Connolly into the front rank of thriller writers. All his subsequent novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers, and he has sold more than 8 million copies in the English language alone. He was the winner of the 2016 CWA Short Story Dagger for On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier from Night Music: Nocturnes Vol 2. In 2007 he was awarded the Irish Post Award for Literature. He was the first non-American writer to win the US Shamus Award and the first Irish writer to win an Edgar Award. Books To Die For, which he edited with Declan Burke, was the winner of the 2013 Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards for Best Non-Fiction work. John writes regularly for newspapers, hosts a radio show on RTE and divides his time between Dublin and Portland, Maine.