Gary Donnelly is a crime and thriller writer from Belfast who lives and works in London. BLOOD WILL BE BORN, the first in the DI Owen Sheen Belfast thriller series, was originally published as an e-book to critical acclaim in 2017 and relaunched in trade paperback/e-book by Allison and Busby in February 2020 with the sequel, KILLING IN YOUR NAME, published in August 2020. The third in the series NEVER ASK THE DEAD will hit the shelves in February 2021. Watch Gary speak about his book in this 30 minute televised interview on Novel Ideas for NVTV. The audio books, published by Isis Publishing Ltd, are spoken by Irish actor Stephen Armstrong.
Praise for Gary Donnelly and the DI Sheen series:
‘Brilliant. Gary Donnelly is an exciting new voice in Northern Irish noir.’ Adrian McKinty, the award-winning author of The Chain, had this to say about the book
‘A gripping debut thriller. The story thunders to its bloody conclusion’ Stuart Neville, author of Those We Left Behind
‘Blood Will Be Born is a rare find – a sucker punch to the gut that will also put a tear in your eye. Unflinching but never cynical, twisty but utterly plausible, and full of heart. I loved it. I only wish it didn’t feel so timely’ Catriona McPherson, author of Strangers at the Gate
‘Powerful evocation of a city still under the sway of tribal warfare’ The Times Crime Club
‘This Belfast-set thriller is knuckleduster hard … A page ripper’ Peterborough Telegraph
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.”
