Hope everyone has their shopping done and can sit back and enjoy this holiday weekend!  Today we have Daithi Kavanagh wrapping up this year’s Indie Author Friday feature.  His Tadhg Sullivan crime thriller series consists of three books, but they can also be read as stand alones.

Garda Detective Tadhg Sullivan leads a special unit that investigates politically motivated crime. A man known only as The Deerstalker is a cancer who has infected the Irish political system. 

Sullivan teams up with journalist Helen Carty, and together they try tracking down the mysterious killer. Carty adds to Sullivan’s problems, when he finds himself falling in love with her. And further complicating things, he starts losing trust in his partner, Detective Pat Carter, who appears to be on the side of the Garda Commissioner, who Sullivan is rapidly falling out with. 

Sullivan’s case is further thrown into confusion when a copycat killer, Tommy Walsh, is shot dead by the CIA. When the CIA discovers that they’ve killed the wrong person, the two agents involved–Simon, who has become disillusioned by his time stationed in the Middle East, and Joey, a psychopath who confuses zealotry with patriotism–are also in pursuit of The Deerstalker. 

Sullivan finds himself in a race against time, if he is to arrest The Deerstalker before the CIA take him out, and use his death as a pawn in a political game of chess. 

Who will win out in the end?

Detective Tadhg Sullivan’s life seems to be falling apart, since being shifted to Clare from Dublin after falling out with the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner. His partner (Journalist Helen Carty) has moved out, unable to live with his bouts of depression and periodic alcoholism. He finds himself once again alone in a world that doesn’t understand him.

Suddenly Sullivan is knocked out of his lethargy when a teenage girl goes missing not far from Ennis where he has been stationed. Sullivan is asked to lead the hunt by the local Superintendent and is catapulted into a world of unimaginable horror. He is confronted by Lord Charles Cromwell the leader of a sadistic cult (The Brotherhood) that derives its pleasures from the torture and murder of young women.

Sullivan’s investigation is once again hampered by political interference. As he fights his way through one bureaucratic obstacle after another he discovers that The Brotherhoods tentacles have not only reached into corridors of power in Ireland but, they are being protected by powerful politicians worldwide.

To cut through this protective ring of steel Sullivan finds himself having to engage with some strange bed fellows. Which included an ex CIA agent (Simon Horowitz) who had saved his partners life during his last investigation and an IRA leader (Rory O’Connor) who has recently been released from prison.

Will this strange combination be able to destroy The Brotherhood before their murderous reign takes another young life or will Lord Cromwell destroy Sullivan and everything he loves?

Detective Tadhg Sullivan’s break away from serious crime comes to an abrupt end when he is pushed into investigating the murder of a retired Christian Brother. A newly elected left wing government fear that the media will hold them personally responsible for what is believed to be a hate crime against the Catholic Church.

Ella Kavanagh, the new Minister for Justice, hopes that placing Sullivan in charge of the investigation will help to distance the government from any mud-slinging by the media. However, no one is prepared for the litany of abuse and corruption stretching back decades, which is about explode in all of their faces.

Can Sullivan save this fledgling government, or will the sins of the past remain buried, and so doing destroy the future of everyone concerned?

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

 I would say believe in what you are doing and do not give up no matter what.

What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?

The characters I would be least likely to get on with would be the “powers that be” i.e. in all of my books Tadhg Sullivan has to deal with those in ‘authority’ for example Stuart Burns the Garda Commissioner who will do anything to stay at the top at the expense of others. Tadhg has an honest sense of what is just (I hope!) and I try to have that also.

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

Since I started writing The Gun I think my writing style has progressed and I have learnt so much with each book. I have also gained much more confidence in my writing ability and as a result have currently started a completely different book away from crime fiction.

What’s the last thing you watched on TV/Netflix?

Bloodline a series set in Florida about a dysfunctional ‘rich’ family with dark secrets which come back to haunt them. A great series.

How would your best friend describe you?

I think my best friend would describe me as reliable, loyal, down to earth, stubborn and determined.

Any unusual talents or hobbies?

I play traditional music in the local hostelries of Wexford, not too unusual but I only started when I was forty! I was able to turn my music into a business and it has served me and my family well until a few years ago. I play now as a hobby with my two children.

Author Bio

Daithi Kavanagh lives in Trinity, County Wexford with his wife and two teenage children.

He has worked for several years as a musician.

In the last couple of years, after taking up adult education, he began writing.

He has completed three stand-alone crime thrillers in The Tadhg Sullivan Series – The Gun, The Brotherhood and The Crucifixion.

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