Benburb Street #2: artists and artisans

The 'Complexions' artwork on Benburb Street

How this stretch of Benburb Street looked
like before 'Complexions'

Benburb Street in Stoneybatter crops up frequently in my novels, from Another Case in Cowtown to the latest thriller, Ghost Flight. 

As an earlier post put it, the street has had a chequered past. It's still somewhat run down at the moment, though you could see a definite turning point after the Luas arrived a decade ago.

The tramline provides a natural promenade and removes most of the cars, though until last spring your morning stroll or cycle ride would be marred by the ugly derelict buildings and hoardings on the north side of the street.

Since last May these have been covered up and brightened up by a brilliant little public art show called Complexions - An Exhibition of Character. Indeed, one or two of you might recognise some of these local characters.

Walshes pub, Stoneybatter (a sort of short story)

This began life as a Christmas short story (called “The Twelve Pubs of Christmas”) then evolved into part of Black Marigolds, the second book in the ‘Moss Reid’ series. I’ve snipped it back here, so that it’s fairly self-contained. It takes place in Walshes pub on Manor Street (actually its address is 6-7 Stoneybatter) on 18 December 2013…

The pebbledash homes of Dublin 7

"Beyond Pebbledash"  is a sort of architectural installation in Collins Barracks, which is part of the National Museum of Ireland.

I've just been checking it out for research on my next novel.

It's a full-scale reconstruction of  the facade of one of those "typical" pebbledash-fronted houses built by Dublin Corporation in areas on the southside such as  Crumlin and Ballyfermot from the 1940s to the 1960s. And Cabra on the northside, just up the road from Stoneybatter and Grangegorman.

The Grange Inn and the 'DIT effect'

At one time the Grange Inn at 19 Grangegorman Road Lower was a cosy, quiet, great little local working-class bar. It was originally going to be a key location for my third book in the 'Moss Reid' crime series, Ghost Flight. Then the recession dragged it down.

Walshes snug, Stoneybatter

To get a good idea of Walshes pub on Manor Street in Stoneybatter, check out this superb new video by award-winning director and music documentarian Myles O’Reilly.

It's a ballad called "Way Up On The Mountain" by Ye Vagabonds - brothers Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn. The duo currently play Walshes every Monday night.

The Liffey Quays by motorbike

Here's a slightly unusual motorcyclist's-eye-view of Dublin. It's a journey along the Liffey quays to Stoneybatter and Grangegorman, and concentrates on the day-to-day problem of getting through the traffic rather than leisurely sightseeing.

Juno's Café, Parkgate Street

Here's a quote from Black Marigolds, the second book in the 'Moss Reid' series. It's a set piece where Moss Reid slips through a back alley (most people miss it) from Nancy Hands's smoking garden and sneaks into Juno's Bistro to see who's tailing him...

Lilliput Pop-Up Park, 2009

A pop-up park designed by local children outside the Lilliput Press in Stoneybatter in 2009...


Liliput Pop-Up Park from Pivot Dublin on Vimeo.

Benburb Street #1: the old red-light district

Over the years Benburb Street has certainly been through the wars. Literally.

If you stroll, jog, cycle or take the tram along its route on a fine summer's day it can seem like a lovely spot today. Most of us can be forgiven for not knowing - or simply forgetting - about the street's sordid past.

But I deal in crime fiction, and this happens to be a real street in Stoneybatter with countless real crimes.

The Market Cafe, Smithfield

If there's one certainty in life it's death. And if there's one certainty in retail and catering life it's that no business will last for ever either.

Perhaps the economic crisis has made us acutely aware of this, as the credit crunch crunched and the onward digital revolution wreaked havoc on entire business sectors such as travel agents and record shops.

The Magdalene Laundries of Stoneybatter

Stoneybatter used to have at least one Magdalene Laundry: St Mary's in Stanhope Street, controlled by the Sisters of Charity.

Lilliput Stores, Rosemount Terrace, Arbour Hill

Talk about timing. It was May 2007, just months before the Irish economy would implode dramatically like a neutron star. I can't imagine a more difficult time to start a new business in Dublin.

Yet that's the very time that a tiny greengrocers and deli called the Lilliput Stores first opened its doors. Or, strictly speaking, door (singular).

Wuff, Benburb Street

The real-life diner Wuff made its literary debut in my second 'Moss Reid' novel, Black Marigolds...

The sounds of the Luas Red Line

The Luas - Dublin's light rail or tram system - is only a decade old, yet it is now deeply embedded in the life of the city centre.

It features in all of my crime novels so far. The "network" (I use the term very loosely) currently has two disconnected lines, reflecting the disconnected thinking at the time they were planned and built.

Where is Stoneybatter in Dublin?

Stoneybatter is the centre of Moss Reid's universe in my series of crime novels about the foodie PI. But where exactly is Stoneybatter (aka Cowtown or Oxmantown)?

A Google Map of places in 'Another Case...'

The first book in the 'Moss Reid' series, Another Case in Cowtown, is pretty much a “Stoneybatter novel”. I've compiled a map on Google Maps of some of the real-life places in this part of Dublin mentioned during the story.

Book #2: ‘Black Marigolds’ - out now in paperback

Stoneybatter, Dublin, Ireland, December 2013

Whistle-blowers, corrupt councillors, top-ups, dig-outs, missing persons and a dead body or two? Gastronomic private investigator Moss Reid is back with another shedload of hopeless cases, scrummy recipes and an awkward dilemma or two with the brussels sprouts.

It’s only ten days until Christmas, the streets are full of festive festoonery, and a right-wing politician in Dublin is being blackmailed in a honeytrap. And if you’re laying a honeytrap, you may as well start with the honey: a honey as young and sweet as you can get…

Book #1: ‘Another Case in Cowtown’

Dublin, Ireland, summer 2013.

It’s the middle of a heatwave, and things are hotting up for Moss Reid.

He’s the kind of downscale private eye who likes to have the right priorities in life: eat, drink and investigate – in that order.

But the Stoneybatter sleuth has way too much on his plate this month: an adoption trace, a missing person, a couple of cheating spouses, a series of thefts at a top Dublin restaurant, and someone has nicked his laptop.

So what’s he doing sitting in an interrogation room, in an itchy boilersuit, being grilled (and boiled and finely diced) by the Murder Squad?