Lies of the Land – Chris Dolan, Book Launch Review by Pat Byrne

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Lies of the Land – Chris Dolan, Book Launch Review by Pat Byrne

Chris Dolan

promised ‘a book launch with a difference ‘ on 1 June, 2016, when he launched his second Maddy Shannon mystery novel with the help of his many talented friends – it certainly worked out that way.

There was a great turn out at Glasgow Caledonian University on a beautiful sunny evening and the atmosphere in the new building (which I had never seen before) was brilliant. It was good to see so many familiar faces in the crowd including Dini Power and Willy Maley, Donal McLaughlin, Linda Duncan, Maeve Mackinnon, Alice and David Hayman, the actor Elaine C. Smith and Allan and Stuart from Vagabond Voices, publishers of the book.

The event kicked off with Jan Hulme, the University Secretary and Vice Principal, welcoming everyone. She was very fulsome in her praise of Chris’ work at the University, including teaching his teaching on the MA Television Fiction Writing Course with Ann Marie Di Mambro.

Chris then said hello and explained that he had his many friends out in force to play some music, perform a short piece of drama and read extracts from ‘Lies of the Land’. It could not have been any more enjoyable. Chris, along with his band, entertained us on fiddle and guitar with Paul Cuddihy (also a writer) on vocals and then Maeve Mackinnon treated us to some wonderful singing – what an amazing voice she has.

Everything was marvelous and great fun. Elaine C Smith was in excellent comedic form, ad libbing like nobody’s business, and the fantastic David Hayman providing both tension and gravitas as he read from Chris’s book.

I’ve started reading ‘Lies of the Land’ and can’t wait to see what Maddy Shannon get’s up to in this second book of the series.

You can buy the book (on sale for its launch) at Vagabond Voices