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Stumped
A Screwball Noir
It is election time in Ireland and a lot more is about to change for Grant, a new arrival from England, and his wheelchair-bound friend Mary, than their political representatives.
Their friend, Sinead, has been kidnapped, and her brother, Pat, has disappeared. Charged with tracking them down, Grant and Mary are soon caught between a vicious Dublin gangster seeking the return of a valuable package and an ambitious politician determined to protect a secret that might harm his re-election prospects. To make matters worse, when someone they confront is found floating face down in the River Liffey, Inspector McGerrity Black, Dublin’s finest rockabilly cop, is soon hot on their trail.
With election day looming and Sinead’s fingers turning up on a regular basis they race through County Kildare suburbia, Dublin’s saunas, Manchester’s gay village and rural Mayo, crossing paths with drag queen farmers, corrupt property developers, and sadistic criminal gang members, as they desperately seek a way to save themselves and their friends while all the time staying ahead of the law.
ADVANCE PRAISE:
"...a unique combination of comedy, both gentle and black, and Grand Guignol murder and mayhem. The story is full of clever and convincing twists at every turn and is packed with characters, especially villains, drawn with an almost Dickensian colour and intensity. Funny, engaging, fast-paced and hugely enjoyable. And the style is all Rob Kitchin’s. Thoroughly recommended."
— Michael Russell, author of THE CITY OF STRANGERS
"Rob Kitchin joins the ranks of top-notch Irish crime writers: Hughes, Glynn, Bruen, French, and Burke. Intricate, terrifying, and thrillingly propulsive, STUMPED offers readers a vivid portrait of Irish politicians, the media, and the police as they clash with the incomparably villainous Doherty."
— Patti Abbott, author of HOME INVASION
"As far as Irish crime fiction goes, Kitchin delivers all the major ingredients: mystery, psychos and a dash of drag queen farmers. This novel is frantic, fierce and fabulous. Skip the manicure before reading. Stumped is a head-scratching nail-biter that'll leave your fingers chewed down to the nub.”
— Gerard Brennan, author of WEE ROCKETS and THE POINT
"Prose as tight as a corkscrew and a gripping plot full of sharp twists and turns, multiple POVs and larger than life characters.”
--Paul D. Brazill, author of A CASE OF NOIR and GUNS OF BRIXTON
"If Seinfeld were updated as a murder mystery novel cast in Ireland, it could spontaneously combust into Rob Kitchin's STUMPED. Easy laughter, embarrassing situations that befall bumbling but loveable characters (who dither and botch things at every turn) characterize this "screwball noir." Kitchin pokes gentle fun while painting portraiture in prose of the modern Irish landscape peopled with gangsters, cross-dressing farmers and a rockabilly cop.»
--Anonymous-9, author of HARD BITE
It is election time in Ireland and a lot more is about to change for Grant, a new arrival from England, and his wheelchair-bound friend Mary, than their political representatives.
Their friend, Sinead, has been kidnapped, and her brother, Pat, has disappeared. Charged with tracking them down, Grant and Mary are soon caught between a vicious Dublin gangster seeking the return of a valuable package and an ambitious politician determined to protect a secret that might harm his re-election prospects. To make matters worse, when someone they confront is found floating face down in the River Liffey, Inspector McGerrity Black, Dublin’s finest rockabilly cop, is soon hot on their trail.
With election day looming and Sinead’s fingers turning up on a regular basis they race through County Kildare suburbia, Dublin’s saunas, Manchester’s gay village and rural Mayo, crossing paths with drag queen farmers, corrupt property developers, and sadistic criminal gang members, as they desperately seek a way to save themselves and their friends while all the time staying ahead of the law.
ADVANCE PRAISE:
"...a unique combination of comedy, both gentle and black, and Grand Guignol murder and mayhem. The story is full of clever and convincing twists at every turn and is packed with characters, especially villains, drawn with an almost Dickensian colour and intensity. Funny, engaging, fast-paced and hugely enjoyable. And the style is all Rob Kitchin’s. Thoroughly recommended."
— Michael Russell, author of THE CITY OF STRANGERS
"Rob Kitchin joins the ranks of top-notch Irish crime writers: Hughes, Glynn, Bruen, French, and Burke. Intricate, terrifying, and thrillingly propulsive, STUMPED offers readers a vivid portrait of Irish politicians, the media, and the police as they clash with the incomparably villainous Doherty."
— Patti Abbott, author of HOME INVASION
"As far as Irish crime fiction goes, Kitchin delivers all the major ingredients: mystery, psychos and a dash of drag queen farmers. This novel is frantic, fierce and fabulous. Skip the manicure before reading. Stumped is a head-scratching nail-biter that'll leave your fingers chewed down to the nub.”
— Gerard Brennan, author of WEE ROCKETS and THE POINT
"Prose as tight as a corkscrew and a gripping plot full of sharp twists and turns, multiple POVs and larger than life characters.”
--Paul D. Brazill, author of A CASE OF NOIR and GUNS OF BRIXTON
"If Seinfeld were updated as a murder mystery novel cast in Ireland, it could spontaneously combust into Rob Kitchin's STUMPED. Easy laughter, embarrassing situations that befall bumbling but loveable characters (who dither and botch things at every turn) characterize this "screwball noir." Kitchin pokes gentle fun while painting portraiture in prose of the modern Irish landscape peopled with gangsters, cross-dressing farmers and a rockabilly cop.»
--Anonymous-9, author of HARD BITE
338 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2014
146 people want to read
About the author
Rob Kitchin
55 books107 followersI'm a professor at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the author or editor of 28 academic books and a 12 volume encyclopedia, and author of four crime novels and two collections of short stories. My passions are reading and writing crime fiction and undertaking research on social issues. I contribute to three blogs: The View From the Blue House, Ireland After NAMA, and The Programmable City.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 24, 2015
Grant, a new arrival from England to Dublin, and his wheelchair-bound companion, Mary have a problem. Grant’s flatmate, Sinead, has gone missing from the house they share, only a bloody severed finger left in her place. There’s also a note addressed to Pat which says Sinead has been kidnapped, she’ll be released once ‘the package’ has been returned. Any delay in doing so will cost Sinead more fingers and going to the authorities will cost her life. The problem is neither Grant nor Mary has the slightest clue as to what the package may be.
The only Pat that Grant can think of is Sinead’s brother. He’s gay and lives in the city. Unfortunately when they visit his flat he’s not there. Pat has a tendency to disappear for weeks on end and it seems this is another of those occasions. All of which is having a rather dramatic impact on the number of fingers in Sinead’s possession. Grant and Mary delve into Pat’s lifestyle, cruising his usual haunts to find him. Unfortunately, one of the people they visit winds up dead very soon afterwards, and the police start to look for the pair.
Thrown into the mix is the fact that it’s election time in Ireland. An ambitious politician who’s seeking to regain his seat has a secret to protect and he’ll seemingly do anything to protect it…
Stumped comes with several high recommendations from authors well known in their fields – Gerard Brennan, Anonymous-9 and Paul D Brazill, which says a lot about this novel. It is openly described as screwball noir, which brings with it a certain style. Stumped is very well written, the story well constructed and connected and told from several perspectives. The characters are generally strong and developed to varying degrees, particularly the main protagonists Mary and Grant, along with Declan, a gay man who’s been connected with Pat and helps them in their quest. There isn’t a single uninteresting character within and most have a part to play. McGerrity, the cop who eventually gets onto Grant and Mary’s trail, is one who doesn’t feature enough. More of him in the future, please.
The pace is high, the plot fairly skipping along, moving from Dublin to Manchester and back again. There’s plenty of black comedy within, which is largely enjoyable and amusing without being laugh out loud. It’s this screwball element that detracts somewhat from the enjoyment and a degree of the style. An example of the latter is broken dialogue. The use of ellipses… regularly in speech… leads to jittery narrative. One aspect to note is the cover design which is quirky and eye catching, as all of them from this publisher appear to be.
All in all a decent read that made this reviewer want to pick up another book by this author based on the promise within.
Originally reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover.
The only Pat that Grant can think of is Sinead’s brother. He’s gay and lives in the city. Unfortunately when they visit his flat he’s not there. Pat has a tendency to disappear for weeks on end and it seems this is another of those occasions. All of which is having a rather dramatic impact on the number of fingers in Sinead’s possession. Grant and Mary delve into Pat’s lifestyle, cruising his usual haunts to find him. Unfortunately, one of the people they visit winds up dead very soon afterwards, and the police start to look for the pair.
Thrown into the mix is the fact that it’s election time in Ireland. An ambitious politician who’s seeking to regain his seat has a secret to protect and he’ll seemingly do anything to protect it…
Stumped comes with several high recommendations from authors well known in their fields – Gerard Brennan, Anonymous-9 and Paul D Brazill, which says a lot about this novel. It is openly described as screwball noir, which brings with it a certain style. Stumped is very well written, the story well constructed and connected and told from several perspectives. The characters are generally strong and developed to varying degrees, particularly the main protagonists Mary and Grant, along with Declan, a gay man who’s been connected with Pat and helps them in their quest. There isn’t a single uninteresting character within and most have a part to play. McGerrity, the cop who eventually gets onto Grant and Mary’s trail, is one who doesn’t feature enough. More of him in the future, please.
The pace is high, the plot fairly skipping along, moving from Dublin to Manchester and back again. There’s plenty of black comedy within, which is largely enjoyable and amusing without being laugh out loud. It’s this screwball element that detracts somewhat from the enjoyment and a degree of the style. An example of the latter is broken dialogue. The use of ellipses… regularly in speech… leads to jittery narrative. One aspect to note is the cover design which is quirky and eye catching, as all of them from this publisher appear to be.
All in all a decent read that made this reviewer want to pick up another book by this author based on the promise within.
Originally reviewed for Crime Fiction Lover.
Displaying 1 of 1 review