14 March 2016

A Dublin gothic murder mystery


Caroline Barry, author of two YA novels (The Rocket Girl and Isadora Elzbeth), makes her first foray into adult fiction with The Dolocher.

The gothic murder mystery is set in Georgian Dublin and is inspired by a local ghost story from the time.
Half man, half pig, the Dolocher is stalking Dublin's streets. Is this terrifying creature the evil spirit of a murderer who cheated the hangman's noose by taking his own life, or is there some other strange supernatural explanation? 
Down-at-heel writer Solomon Fish's new broadsheet follows the Dolocher's increasingly gruesome exploits. With his fearless landlady, the ship's surgeon-turned-apothecary Merriment O'Grady, he goes after the Dolocher. But are they hunting the Dolocher or is the Dolocher hunting them?
Originally from Dublin, Caroline Barry studied art history then worked in arts administration and has taught creative writing for county councils, including a spell as County Laois writer-in-residence.

She lives in Westmeath with her husband Neil Richardson, who is also a writer, and she has directed two of his plays: Through the Dark Clouds Shining and From the Shannon to the Somme.