Page-turning Thrillers: Andrea Carter & Brian McGilloway

Immerse yourself in this conversation with two of Ireland’s finest crime writers, discussing their latest books with novelist Neil Hegarty.

In Andrea Carter’s atmospheric novel, There Came A-Tapping (Little, Brown, 2025), Allie seeks refuge in the Slieve Bloom mountains, haunted by the disappearance of her husband.

Brian McGilloway’s heart-wrenching thriller, The One You Least Suspect (Little, Brown, 2025), follows Katie, a newly recruited police informant in Derry.

From writing female characters to creating suspense, this event is perfect for readers who love a good page-turner.

Andrea Carter is the author of The Inishowen Mysteries. She grew up in Ballyfin, Co. Laois, and graduated in law from Trinity College, Dublin, before qualifying as a solicitor and moving to the Inishowen peninsula. Having practised law for twenty years, more recently as a barrister, she now writes full time. Her short story The Lamb was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in 2019. The Inishowen Mysteries series is in development for television. Her seventh book and first standalone thriller There Came a-Tapping was published in March 2025.

Brian McGilloway is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen crime novels, including the Ben Devlin and the Lucy Black mystery series. His 2022 novel, The Empty Room, was a Sunday Times bestseller while his previous, The Last Crossing, won Highly Commended in Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His new novel, The One You Least Suspect, is published in May 2025. He has also written for BBC Radio and Television. He lives in Strabane with his wife and four children.

Neil Hegarty’s novels include The Jewel and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award. His non-fiction titles include the biography Frost: That Was the Life That Was and The Story of Ireland, which accompanies the RTÉ-BBC television history of Ireland. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Cyphers, The Tangerine and elsewhere. He is the co-editor of the essay collection Impermanence, which has been adapted for radio by RTÉ. Neil is a regular literary reviewer for The Irish Times.