McCAFFREY, K(en) T. 1947-

PERSONAL: Born 1947, in Clara, County Offaly, Ireland.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Do-Not Press Ltd., 16 The Woodlands, London SE13 6TY, England.

CAREER: Designer, writer, and children's book illustrator. Worked for various advertising agencies and design studios; established his own studio, 1982; design consultant for Irish Tourist Board promotions; illustrator of children's books, 1989—.

WRITINGS:

"EMMA BOYLAN MYSTERIES" SERIES

Revenge, Marino Books (Dublin, Ireland), 1999.

Killing Time, Marion Press, (Dublin, Ireland), 1999.

The Body Rock, Marino Books (Dublin, Ireland), 2001.

End of the Line, Do-Not Press (London, England), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Irish writer K. T. McCaffrey has written several volumes in a crime series featuring Dublin investigative journalist Emma Boylan. Before turning to fiction, McCaffrey was a well-known designer in Ireland with his own studio. Work in the illustration of children's books encouraged an interest in publishing, and in 1999 he published the first of the "Emma Boylan" books, Revenge. Set in Dublin, the book deals with an investigation of murder in the corridors of power, as does the second in the series, Killing Time. In that novel, Boylan helps investigate the murder of a senior Irish politician, a search that ultimately involves a senior detective and leads to the top of the political elite. Pauline Ferrie, writing in NY Transfer Online, praised McCaffrey's "twist in the tail of this fast-paced thriller." This upsetting of the reader's preconceived notions about the plot is a McCaffrey trademark.

McCaffrey continues the adventures of Boylan in The Body Rock, in which the journalist is "newly returned from her honeymoon and immediately embroiled in a series of unexplained happenings," as a reviewer for the Irish Emigrant Book Review Online noted. The same contributor further commented that McCaffrey "contrives to conceal until the last the answers to all our questions."

The first three books in the "Emma Boylan" set were published in Ireland; with the fourth, McCaffrey found broader publication in England. End of the Line finds Boylan, a recent recipient of an investigative reporting award, a possible victim herself when she investigates the murder of a parish priest. Reviewing this work in Booklist, Emily Melton praised McCaffrey's "stylish writing, captivating characters, and imaginative plotting," and went on to express the hope that "he quickly becomes a fixture" in the United States.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2004, Emily Melton, review of End of the Line, p. 1143.

ONLINE

Fantastic Fiction Web site,http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ (July 1, 2004),"K. T. McCaffrey."

Irish Emigrant Book Review Online, http://www.pgileirdata.org/html/pgil_archive/reviewing_organs/irish_emigrant/BR01_07.html/ (July, 2001), review of The Body Rock.

NY Transfer Online,http://www.blythe.org/ (April, 2000), Pauline Ferrie, review of Killing Time.

Observer Online (London, England), http://books.guardian.co.uk/ (December 21, 2003), Peter Guttridge, review of End of the Line.*