Author to host book launch in Newbridge, County Kildare, venue with guest speaker Ray Goggins

An author will host a launch event in Newbridge to commemorate the release of her new book.

Writer Maria McDonald is set to release 'The Devil’s Own', a historical crime fiction novel published by Bloodhound Press.

Maria was born in Belfast, but lives in County Kildare, close to the military camp on The Curragh, in which this story is set.

It is one of two books by Maria due to be published by Bloodhound Press in 2023, with the second, 'Tangled Webs,' due out this coming September.

'The Devil's Own' follows Brian, a former soldier who is looking forward to retiring and spending time with his wife, although he worries about adjusting to civilian life.

While clearing the attic before they move house, he makes a discovery: three journals dating back to the early twentieth century. 

One was written by Arthur, an ex-Connaught Ranger, another by Arthur’s wife, Edith, who is also a colonel’s daughter, and the third journal was written by Henry, a British soldier and Arthur’s best friend.  

Brian and his wife are soon engrossed in reading the diaries and following the intertwined stories of these three people from the past. 

However, it soon becomes  chillingly clear that these diaries contain more than the daily adventures of ordinary lives, as it soon becomes evident that one of the three is a killer.

The official launch will take place at the Riverbank Arts Centre this Friday, January 20, from 6pm to 7pm.

Ray Goggins, Author of 'Ranger 22', and also of 'RTE's Hell Week' fame, will feature as a guest speaker.

The MC on the night will be Mario Corrigan, Kildare County Council executive librarian, author and historian.  

Paperback copies will be available on the night. Sales by Farrell and Nephew Bookshop.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maria McDonald

Maria McDonald, was born in Belfast but arrived in Kildare with her family in 1976, as her family fled the escalating war in Northern Ireland.

Maria is an avid reader who loves to write, but only indulged in her passion for writing fiction after retirement.

Since then, her short stories and  articles have been published in Woman’s Way  and Ireland’s Own, as well as numerous anthologies.

Maria is a founder member of Ink Tank Writing Group, which is based in Newbridge Library, and contributed to their anthologies: 'Timeless in Kildare' (released in 2019) and 'Let Me Tell You Something' (released in 2020).

She is married to her husband Gerry, and after raising four children to adulthood, they are having a great time with their grandchildren.