Ciaran Carson's Belfast crime thriller

While Ciaran Carson is best known as a leading poet, he has also written at least one crime novel.

Gordon Thomas (1933–2017)

Based for many years in County Wicklow in Ireland, the Welsh writer Gordon Thomas (1933–2017) was best known as an investigative journalist and prolific author on secret intelligence topics. He also wrote five thrillers featuring Mossad secret agent David Morton.

'Au service de France'

Au service de France is a quirky historical espionage series, but unlike the acclaimed Deutschland 83 the French series begins at the start of the 1960s and puts the emphasis on parody and comedy.

Author profile: Ed O'Loughlin

Irish author Ed O’Loughlin drew on his experiences as a foreign correspondent for his debut novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind (2009).

Final book in Joe Joyce's 'Echoland' series

Joe Joyce has completed his "Echoland" trilogy of historical thrillers with Echowave, now out as an ebook and available in December as a paperback.

40th anniversary edition of 'Harry's Game'

Gerald Seymour's debut novel Harry’s Game (1975), the first big bestseller about the modern troubles in Northern Ireland, has reached a 40th anniversary edition.

'London Spy' for BBC 2

London Spy is a new five-part thriller that begins with a chance romance between two people from very different worlds - one from the intelligence services, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess.

Sam Riley, ace of spies

Sam Riley and Kate Bosworth are to star in the BBC's new espionage thriller based on SS-GB (1978), Len Deighton's alternative history novel.

1941: the Germans have won the Battle of Britain and London is under occupation. English police detective Douglas Archer (Riley) finds himself working under the SS as he investigates what appears to be a routine black market murder. Bosworth plays an American journalist who becomes inextricably linked with the murder case.

The five-part series has an impressive writing team - Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have penned the last five James Bond films. The series goes into production this month and will air on BBC One in 2016.

'Deutschland 83' for Channel 4

Channel 4 is to show the brilliant Cold War thriller Deutschland 83 to launch "Walter Presents", its new video streaming brand showcasing foreign-language drama.

Vaughan-Lawlor to star in 'The Secret Agent'

Love/Hate star Tom Vaughan-Lawlor plays an anarchist in the BBC's new adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel The Secret Agent.

Joe McCoubrey's Castlebar detective

Joe McCoubrey comes from Downpatrick in County Down. His latest crime novel, Spent Force, is set around Castlebar, County Mayo.

Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan in WWII drama

Not one but two films are currently in production about Operation Anthropoid, the assassination attempt on leading Nazi Reinhard Heydrich during World War II.

Both films feature leading Irish actors as the pair of Czech and Slovak-born paratroopers who were parachuted into their homeland to hunt down Heydrich, "The Butcher of Prague".

When the Third Reich invaded Wales

Irish author Brendan Gerad O’Brien's debut novel Dark September (2014) is an alternate history thriller set in wartime Britain under German invasion.

Globetrotting thriller from Paul T Lynch

"It's little things that mess up your life. Like the lingerie receipt your wife finds when you leave your suit out for the cleaners. Or the small lump of lead with the cupro-nickel jacket. If it hits you after leaving a gun barrel, it can change you forever."
- Chapter one of Better Beginning

Paul T Lynch lists among his many careers and interests "musician, soldier, songwriter, voyager, photographer and writer". He is retired from the civil service and the Reserve Defence Forces, and lives in Killiney.

Andrew Hughes's thriller from Victorian Dublin

"Kafka" / "Kafkaesque" often pops up in reviews of Andrew Hughes's historical thriller set in Victorian Dublin, The Convictions of John Delahunt (2013).

BOTM: 'Gun Street Girl' by Adrian McKinty

Our June "Book of the Month": Gun Street Girl (2015).

The author: Adrian McKinty.

Author profile: Kevin Brophy

Galway-based author Kevin Brophy's work includes two Cold War thrillers rooted in East Germany in the days before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Crossing (2012) was followed by Another Kind Of Country (2014):

Santiago, 1973: Rosa lives a privileged life among the ruling elite. When violence erupts with the Pinochet coup, her socialist parents are the first to be taken. Forced to flee across the Andes, she finds herself rescued by a Stasi spy, and escapes behind the Iron Curtain to Germany.

Author profile: JJ Toner

Irish author JJ Toner writes police procedurals and historical thrillers.

His "Ben Jordan" series is set in Dublin from 2004 onwards, featuring DI Jordan of the "Organized Crime Unit".

In the first novel, St Patrick's Day Special (2011), Jordan's nemesis is criminal Aloysius Lafferty. In the sequel, Find Emily (2012), Jordan is fresh out of rehab, his career and marriage in tatters, with 24 hours to find a missing girl.

JJ Toner's "Black Orchestra" historical espionage / murder mystery series begins at the outbreak of WWII with the eponymous Black Orchestra (2013) - the Black Orchestra or Schwarze Kapelle is the real-life name of the German resistance movement within the military.

As the German army invades Poland and France, Abwehr signalman Kurt Müller discovers a colleague lying dead at his radio receiver in Berlin. The criminal police dismiss the death as suicide, but Kurt is not convinced. 

Author profile: Philip Davison

Dublin-born novelist, screenwriter and playwright Philip Davison is author of the offbeat series of spy novels featuring Harry Fielding, an odd job man for the MI5 in London.

The four-book series begins with The Crooked Man (1997), which was made into a TV drama in 2003 starring Ross Kemp and Liam Cunningham.

Davison is a member of Aosdána, and continues to live in Dublin.

Official author website: Philipdavison.com

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Author profile: Eoin McNamee

Although Eoin McNamee writes about crimes, he isn’t a traditional crime writer per se. He fictionalises real-life events, such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, using the real names of those involved.

His novels include Resurrection Man (1994), which detailed the bloodletting of the Shankill Butchers, a Loyalist gang in 1970s Belfast. Its film version, for which he wrote the script, was released in 1998.

"When I got to the end of Resurrection Man, I changed all the names. But it almost felt like a dishonest thing to do, as everyone knew who it was about, so when I did Blue Tango, I just felt it was the right thing to use the real names, because that was the story you were telling."

His "Blue" trilogy features the historical figure of Sir Lancelot Curran, a ruthless lawyer, politician, and attorney general.

The Blue Tango (2002) was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It follows the aftermath of the savage murder of a judge's daughter in 1952, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in recent Irish history.

Completing the trilogy are Orchid Blue (2010) and Blue is the Night (2015). The latter took the  Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award at the 2015 Listowel Writers' Week. The €15,000 award is the highest monetary prize awarded for a book published by an Irish author.

The Ultras (2005) is set in Northern Ireland inthe 1970s, and takes its cue from the true-life story of Special Forces Operative Captain Robert Nairac before his disappearance in the "covert war".

McNamee has also written a series under the pseudonym John Creed, featuring the character of intelligence officer Jack Valentine.

He also wrote the script for I Want You (1998), a film directed by Michael Winterbottom, and episodes of the Irish police drama series Red Rock, as well as an episode of TG4's Irish-language crime drama An Bronntanas.

Originally from Kilkeel in County Down, he now lives in Sligo. Having studied law at university, he is suitably versed on the legalities behind writing "faction" and how to avoid the potholes other writers may have fallen into.

He is currently working on a novel about the snooker player Alex "Hurricane" Higgins.