Carrick-born author nominated for top fiction award

A mystery thriller by a Carrickfergus-born author is in the running for one of America's top literary fiction awards.

Adrian McKinty, originally from the Victoria area of the town, has been nominated for an Edgar Award for his detective thriller Gun Street Girl.

He is one of five novelists whose work is in the Best Paperback Original Category.

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The annual prize, named after horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, has been awarded to the best authors in the mystery genre since 1945.

Born and raised in Carrickfergus, Mr McKinty emigrated to the United States after graduating from university.

He now lives in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne.

Gun Street Girl is the fourth instalment in his critically acclaimed Sean Duffy detective series.

Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, the series began with 2012’s The Cold Cold Ground.

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This was followed by I Hear The Sirens in the Street and In The Morning I’ll Be Gone.

The latter picked up the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel of the year in 2014.

The accolade is given annually to Australia’s top crime writers.

A fifth Duffy book, Rain Dogs, is due to be released later this year.

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Adrian’s home town features in the thriller, in which the detective investigates the apparent suicide of a journalist within the grounds of Carrickfergus Castle.

Writing on his blog, Mr McKinty said he was “thrilled” at his nomination for Gun Street Girl, noting it was the first time he had been shortlisted for an Edgar Award.

Meanwhile, the winners of the awards are due to be announced at a New York City gala on April 28.

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