Declan Hughes is an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 novelist, playwright and screenwriter. His most widely known crime novels center around the Irish-American detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 Ed Loy. Loy is a homage to the character Sam Spade

Sam Spade

Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....

 from The Maltese Falcon as a loy

Loy (spade)

A loy is an early Irish spade with a long heavy handle made of ash, a narrow steel plate on the face and a single footrest. The word loy comes from the Gaelic word laí, which means spade...

is a traditional Irish spade. His most recent is City of Lost Girls (2010), which follows All the dead voices (2009) The price of blood (2008),The dying breed, The color of blood (2007), The wrong kind of blood 2006.

His plays include Shiver (2003) Digging for fire and New morning
.

Hughes lives in Dublin with his wife and two daughters.

Novels

• City of lost girls (2010) ISBN 9780061689901
• All the dead voices (2009) ISBN 9780061689888
• Dying Breed (2008) - US title: The price of blood ISBN 9780060825515
• The colour of blood (2007) ISBN 9780060825492
• The wrong kind of blood (2006)ISBN 9780060825461