Matt Brolly Books In Order

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Matt Brolly is a bestselling mystery author best known for the “DCI Michael Lambert” series of novels. After he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in law he got interested in criminal law. However, instead of practicing criminal law, he enrolled for a Creative Writing Masters degree at Glasgow University. Brolly wrote “Dead Eyed” the debut novel of the “DCI Michael Lambert” series of novels in 2015. Since then he has written more than a dozen novels across several series that include the “Detective Louise Blackwell,” “Lynch Rose” and the “Detective Kate Swanson Mystery” series. The author also authors children’s fiction as MJ Brolly and his debut work in the genre was the 2018 published novel “The Sleeping Bug.” He currently lives with his wife and children in London.

While Matt Brolly had trained and qualified as a lawyer, he never practiced the law. While he found many aspects of the law fascinating and intellectually stimulating, he realized that his heart was not in the law. He began writing and submitting manuscripts to publishers and agents and after a few near misses he decided to go study creative writing as a masters student. He believed he needed specific feedback from the experts which would allow him to finally write something worthy of publishing. The course turned out to be just what he needed as the excellent feedback helped him hone his skills. As for his influences, he has had many over the years but the biggest was Peter Straub’s Blue Rose trilogy. It was the interlinked stories of the series that introduced him to a new type of crime fiction he had never read before and influenced his later writing. He has also enjoyed Mo Hayder’s “Jack Caffery” stories and anything by the likes of Michael Marshall, Stav Sherez, and Chris Mooney among many others.

As an author of crime fiction, his education as a lawyer certainly came in handy. He of course had to research and confirm several procedural issues with practicing police officers. Nonetheless, did not want his novels to be too procedural and hence much of it is what came from his imagination. Given that he is a self employed man he can write at any time he feels like. He does not have a specific time of day when he does his writing even though he prefers to do his writing late at night. Once he has begun working on a manuscript, he will usually write an average of 1000 words every day though he will usually try to get up to 2000.

In Matt Brolly’s “Dead Eyed” Michael Lambert the lead is having some time out as he tries to reconstruct his family life and marriage. He has achieved a lot of success being a detective crime inspector before he was approached to work for a hidden but very powerful investigations agency. Many that had once known him deemed him lost and things only got worse when he experienced a personal tragedy and could no longer work in investigations. Just when he is feeling better and wants to go back to work, Simon Klatzky, an old friend conveniently hands him a file. He says that the file had appeared mysteriously in his letter box and did not have any indication of where it could have come from. The file contains several images of a crime scene that includes a man tortured to death with his eyes gouged out. The killer had also taken the time to inscribe some strange Latin phrases on his body while he was still alive. It is a brutal murder that shocks both Klatzky and Lambert but even more bizarre is that the MO seems familiar. Two decades ago while they were in college, their mutual friend was murdered in a very similar fashion with the same phrase carved into the bodies.

Matt Brolly’s “Dead Time” opens to DCI Michael Lambert requested to investigate a suspicious house fire in which everyone had died except for a three year old girl. The charred remains of her parents had been found huddled together but nobody knows what had happened. Arson is not something Lambert Usually investigates but since one of the victims is a police officer, his superiors are very much interested in resolving the mystery. Lambert still has personal issues including a troublesome relationship, feelings for his ex wife and poor health. Moreover, his boss is also being investigated by Anti Corruption authorities which has led to a very strained relationship. However, he needs to put everything on the back burner if he is to resolve the mystery of the house fire. It is a very complex case that will take him into a deviant and dark world that will challenge and haunt him like no other investigation before.

In “Dead Time” by Matt Brolly, DCI Michael Lambert is called in when a suspicious death is reported. A man had been electrocuted while in his bathtub and strangely enough there had been found a card next to him that was written Michael Lambert. If they wanted to get the attention of the detective, they had succeeded. It is not long before his investigations rule out a sucide just when Lambert learns that eight men that had been sentenced to prison for pedophilia had managed to escape from their prison transport. A prison guard has also gone missing while two people had been killed during the escape. Lambert cannot help but wonder if any of the events had something to do with his investigation. Soon after, he is asked to investigate another killing where his name has also been scrawled onto an identical card to that found in the first murder. He feels a chill down his spine that he had not felt during the first case. It seems someone is craving his attention and is doing so by recreating murder scenes he had dealt with when he was starting out as a detective. His biggest concern though is that this could be related to the prison break and that the killer is planning something even bigger.

4 Responses to “Matt Brolly”

1. Jill Brush: 1 year ago

   I love your books – Lambert, Tillman, Kennedy, the incredible tension. However, I failed to understand what went on at Waverley Manor in Dead Embers. I did read Barnes’s explanation more than once but still could not understand about the children and the deaths at the Manor. Would you lease explain it to me. Kind regards.

   Reply
2. Eric Davidson: 2 years ago

   Just finished The Running Girls. Another great read from Matt Brolly.Shame there isn’t another book to make a series

   Reply
3. Jim Bell: 3 years ago

   Bought Dead Time & Dead Embers and loved them !
   Just ordered The Controller, The Pier,The Descent, The Mark, Dead Water, Dead Eyed & Dead Lucky from Amazon.

   A brilliant writer.
   Thank you.

   Reply
4. Monica O'callaghan: 3 years ago

   Dear Mr Brolly are you going to write another Lambert novel I have read all 4 and I like them a lot hope you do thankyou for such a good read

   Reply