The rights to Caimh McDonnell’s The Dublin Trilogy and the Bunny McGarry novels have been acquired by Avalon. The deal was done via Caimh’s agents, Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock and Emily Hayward-Whitlock of The Artists Partnership.
Comedian, writer, actor and director Chris Addison (Breeders, Veep), who is a fan of McDonnell’s books, is attached to develop the trilogy.
The series, which has sold over 500,000 books, comprises A Man with One of Those Faces, The Day That Never Comes, and Last Orders, all of which were bestsellers on Amazon. The trilogy has a prequel, Angels in the Moonlight and a sequel to this book, Dead Man’s Sins, which will be published 15 June 2021, thus extending the trilogy to five books. The books, which are set in McDonnell’s hometown of Dublin, follow the adventures of an unlikely crime-solving trio, including former guard Bunny McGarry.
Caimh McDonnell said: “I’m thrilled to be working with both Avalon and Chris. Breeders, which they made for Sky, is one of my favourite shows of the past few years and Taskmaster got me through at least one of the lockdowns. I’m particularly delighted to be working with Chris as we’re both grizzled veterans of the comedy circuit and I’ve long been a big fan of his brilliant live shows. I know Bunny and the rest of the gang are in very safe hands.”
Avalon’s television shows include Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe, Taskmaster, The Russell Howard Hour, Not Going Out, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Spitting Image, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay and Workaholics.
Born in Limerick, raised in Dublin and now living in Manchester, Caimh McDonnell is a former stand-up comedian and TV writer. He became known as the white-haired Irishman whose name nobody could pronounce on the UK comedy circuit. He performed around the world, had several well- received Edinburgh shows and supported acts such as Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney on tour before hanging up his clowning shoes to concentrate on writing. He has also written for numerous TV shows and been nominated for a Children’s TV BAFTA.
His debut novel, A Man with One of Those Faces – a comic crime novel – was published in 2016 and spawned the Dublin Trilogy books and the spin-off McGarry Stateside series. They have all been Amazon bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. Caimh is also the author of The Stranger Times which is written under his pen name C K McDonnell. Visit whitehairedirishman.com for more information.
