I have had four crime novels published and two collections of short stories. I’ve also had a number of short stories published in various outlets including A Twist of Noir, All Due Respect, Close to the Bone, Flash Fiction Offensive, Laughter Shack, Powder Burn Flash, Shotgun Honey, and Spinetingler. Every Saturday I publish a drabble (a story of exactly 100 words) on my crime fiction blog.
Novels
Kitchin, R. (2014) Stumped. 280 Steps. 978-8-293326-29-8
It is election time in Ireland and a lot more is about to change for Grant, a new arrival from England, and his wheelchair-bound friend Mary, than their political representatives. Their friend, Sinead, has been kidnapped, and her brother, Pat, has disappeared.
Charged with tracking them down, Grant and Mary are soon caught between a vicious Dublin gangster seeking the return of a valuable package and an ambitious politician determined to protect a secret that might harm his re-election prospects. To make matters worse, when someone they confront is found floating face down in the River Liffey, Inspector McGerrity Black, Dublin’s finest rockabilly cop, is soon hot on their trail.
With election day looming and Sinead’s fingers turning up on a regular basis they race through County Kildare suburbia, Dublin’s saunas, Manchester’s gay village and rural Mayo, crossing paths with drag queen farmers, corrupt property developers, and sadistic criminal gang members, as they desperately seek a way to save themselves and their friends while all the time staying ahead of the law.
Kitchin, R. (2013) Stiffed. Snubnose Press. 978-1-484903-76-6
Tadhg Maguire wakes to find himself spooning a dead man. The stiff is Tony Marino, lieutenant to mobster Aldo Pirelli. It doesn’t matter how the local enforcer ended up between Tadhg’s sheets, Pirelli is liable to leap to the wrong conclusion and demand rough justice.
The right thing to do would be to call the cops. The sensible thing to do would be to disappear. Forever. The only other option is to get rid of the body and pretend it was never there. No body, no crime.
What he needs is a couple of friends to help dispose of the heavy corpse. Little do Tadhg’s friends know what kind of reward they’ll receive for their selfless act – threatened, chased, shot at, and kidnapped with demands to return a million dollars they don’t possess.
By mid-afternoon Tadhg is the most wanted man in America. Not bad for someone who’d never previously had so much as parking ticket. If he survives the day he’s resigned to serving time, but not before he saves his friends from the same fate.
Reviews, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
Kitchin, R. (2010) The White Gallows. Indepenpress, Brighton. 978-1-907499-37-1
In post-Celtic Tiger Ireland the murder rate is soaring and the gardai are struggling to cope with gangland wars, domestic disputes, and drunken brawls that spiral into fatal violence. To add to Detective Superintendent Colm McEvoy’s workload are the deaths of two immigrants – an anonymous Lithuanian youth and an elderly German billionaire. While one remains an enigma, the murky history of the other is slowly revealed. But where there is money there is power and, as McEvoy soon learns, if you swim amongst sharks, you’d better act like a shark …
Reviews, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
Kitchin, R. (2009) The Rule Book. Pen Press, Brighton. 978-1-906710-57-6
April in the Wicklow mountains and a young woman is found dead, seemingly sacrificed. Accompanying her body is Chapter One of The Rule Book – a self-help guide for prospective serial killers. The case is assigned to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and headed up by Detective Superintendent Colm McEvoy. Since the recent death of his wife, McEvoy is a shadow of his former self – two stones lighter with a wardrobe of ill fitting suits, struggling to quit the cigarettes that killed his wife, and still getting used to being a single parent. Less than twenty four hours later a second murder is committed. Self-claiming the title ‘The Raven’, the killer starts to taunt the police and the media. When the third body is discovered it is clear that The Raven intends to slaughter one victim each day until The Rule Book is published in full. With the pressure from his superiors, the press, and politicians rising, McEvoy stumbles after a killer that is seemingly several steps ahead.
Is The Rule Book as definitive as The Raven claims?
Reviews, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
Collections of short stories
Kitchin, R. (2014) The Song of the Sea. Eostre Press. 978-1-909165-02-1
A collection of 100 drabbles.
ISBN (Mobi/Kindle) 978-1-909165-02-1 Free download
ISBN (EPub) 978-1-909165-03-8 Free download
ISBN (PDF) 978-1-909165-04-5 Free download
Kitchin, R. (2012) Killer Reels. Eostre Press. (novella as interlinked short stories) 978-1-909165-00-7
Jimmy Kiley is a keen amateur movie maker. He’s also the ruthless criminal boss of the north side of the city. When enforcing his own brand of law, he sees no reason why he shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. His kick is to provide a private viewing of his last venture to the star of the next. And his reluctant stars are only ever one hit wonders.
Killer Reels documents Kiley’s movie making through a collection of twelve interlinked short stories.
Short stories
638 Steps
A Black Feather
Bloody Idiot
Boxing Dumb
Cassanova Succumbs to Two Ton Tina
Cutting Loose
Death of Me
Does Sparky want another sausage?
Infrared Dead
Insurance
It’s a Dog’s Life
King Canute
Nearly Extinct
On a High Wire
Preparing the Lure
Scattered to the four winds
Speeding
Spirit of Fear
Stakeout
Sweet Dreams
Target Practice
The case of the strange white van
The El up Ninth Avenue
The Snake House
To cut a long story short
Two men get thrown out of a bar
Trust and Fear
Undergrowth
You Raise Me Up
Drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words)
This list is hopelessly out of date. I’ve published 400 drabbles on my blog. I’ll get round to updating one day!
A bad start to the day
A blank page and a blinking cursor
A coming storm?
A deadly descent?
A good death
A front seat view across the valley
A little encouragement
A long, lonely night in the desert
A murder in Iceland
A murder in Venice
A seed of doubt
A thin slither of hope
Abandoned
All I can hear is the wind, the rain, and you whispering loudly
All sins require justice
An ambush in the mountains
An honest man?
And half of nothing is?
A ship without a rudder
A slither of hope
Bad ball
Battle of wits
Before the school run
Bishop to G3
Blood pumping quick
Blowing hot and cold
Both too old for this
Brief encounter
Bulldog Salts
Can you smell smoke?
Cancelling Christmas
Can’t live without shoes
Carpetbagger blues
Changing channels
Changing paths
Chasing ghosts
Clearing rubble
Closing down sale
Compromises
Cornered
Cutting turf
Desperately seeking …
Dying for a dare
Due process
Empty promises
Exit strategy
Fallen behind
Fall-guy witness
Fast car
Fearing rejection
Fencing
Final notice
First at the scene
For a few pennies more
Forty minutes to transfer terminals
Gone fishing
Guangzhou heist
Guarantees and promises
He’s gone
Heist
Home run
I know you’re not the answer
I’m meant to be grateful?
In harm’s way
iphone, your phone
It is what it is
It’s a long way to Tipperary
It’s just a job
Karma coma
Killing time
Laying in wait
Learning to count in the shelter
Leaving home
Lisboa rendezvous
Listless
Losing Trigger
Lost
LR is better than A
Man on a mission
Many a true word said in jest
Marching towards Inishgora
Mouse trap
My name’s Marie
Night swimming
Nine tenths of the law
No comment
Nothing under the mattress
Number one at the end of the bar
Oddly absent
One drop three drip
On the bus with grandfather
On the ropes
Out in the storm
Over the edge
Path of least resistivity
Peppered tail
Plane envy
Playing by the river
Playing with fire
Preparing for the turkey shoot
Prowler
Pulling a thread
Purls of wisdom
Pushing one’s luck
Ready-made family
Real life calling
Reluctant witnesses
Rock and a hard place
Roots and drift
Seagulls and crows
Self-defence
Selfish?
She has to go
She’s got pretty persuasion
She wrecks my head
Shhh … Sugar
Silence and lies
Snap inspection
Snowblind
Soldiering on
Sore feet
Staring into the jaws of defeat
Stick of twist?
Stonework
Stranded behind enemy lines
Sunrise
Swimming with loan sharks
Taking on airs
Taking the devil for a swim
That’s all there is to it
The captain has switched on the seatbelt sign
The clearing
The cook is in meltdown
The dance floor swallows him whole
The distant shore
The drink talking
The end of a dream
The evidence proves otherwise
The game is up
The last hurrah!
The long drop
The long walk
The makings of a grouch
The morning after
The next morning
The signal in the noise
The song of the sea
The tide has turned
The wrong man?
There’s a new sheriff in town
This isn’t a game
This isn’t a video game
To the death
Too quiet
Too slow on the draw
Trapped on the sixth floor
Unwound
Waiting for the NKVD
Wandering in half-light
Washed up on the tide
Wayward salmon
We need an ark
We’re not losing any more
Wet dog
Whiskey and tears
Will be caught, won’t be caught
Wishing on a star
Why do I always attract the weirdos?
Why have you applied for this job?
You can ring my parents
You can practically taste the pong
You’d better sit down
One thought on “Fiction”