Porter Square Books is delighted to present a virtual event with Stuart Neville for the deluxe reissue of his award-winning debut novel, The Ghosts of Belfast, joined in conversation by Queen of Crime Val McDermid! This very special virtual talk takes place at 3pm ET on Friday, July 16th, free and open to all via Crowdcast.

*Don't forget to Enter the Noir Guitar Giveaway!* During this event, the winner of Soho Crime's Noir Guitar Sweepstakes will be announced. To celebrate the Deluxe Edition of The Ghosts of Belfast, Soho Crime is giving away a one-of-a-kind "Noir Guitar" handcrafted by the author himself! Enter and learn more at https://bit.ly/NoirGuitar. (Sponsored by Soho Crime, entry to this giveaway closes July 16th at 9am - so be sure to enter before the event. We'll remind you as well!)

A New York Times Notable Book and Winner of The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Neville's debut remains a "flat-out terror trip" (James Ellroy) and "one of the best Irish novels, in any genre" (John Connolly), now reissued in a deluxe edition.

Northern Ireland's Troubles may be over, but peace has not erased the crimes of the past. Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary killer, is haunted by the ghosts of the twelve people he slaughtered. Every night, at the point of losing his mind, he drowns their screams in drink. But it's not enough. In order to appease the ghosts, Fegan is going to have to kill the men who gave him orders. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all are called to account.

This masterpiece of both Irish literature and of crime fiction, now a modern classic, is presented here with an introduction by Val McDermid, a discussion guide for book clubs, and a behind-the-book peek at Stuart Neville's creative process.

Stuart Neville, the “king of Belfast noir” (The Guardian), is the author of ten novels, including The House of Ashes coming this September from Soho Crime. He has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and been shortlisted for the Edgar, Macavity, Dilys, Barry, and Anthony Awards as well as the CWA Steel Dagger. He lives near Belfast.

Dubbed the Queen of Crime, Val McDermid has sold over 17 million books to date across the globe and is translated into more than 40 languages. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010 and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2016, Val received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and in 2017 received the DIVA Literary Prize for Crime, and was elected a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Val has served as a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford and a Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She writes full time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife. Her latest Karen Pirie novel Still Life was published in paperback in February 2021, followed in May by a graphic novelisation of Resistance, her critically acclaimed 2017 radio drama series, illustrated by Kathryn Briggs and published by the Wellcome Collection. Val’s 2021 hardback novel, due in August, launches a brand new series.

Virtual: Stuart Neville with Val McDermid, The Ghosts of Belfast