Plot

Joe Lines

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In Joe Lines’ debut pamphlet the poet pays homage to and satirises the genre of crime writing. The reader follows a detective through the streets of a familiar and strange metropolis, from the black market trade of truffles to grimy back bars and a travelling chess scam. Dark, witty and engaging, the mysterious underbelly of crime and the detective’s role in uncovering it, is used to mine the depths of who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it in the first place. In his own words: 'Moods: Seaside epic, Sussex noir, South-eastern Gothic.'

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This is a lovely little book of elegant twists and turns, and spins on words, as in 'Trepan', where we discover 'a whole anatomy / of pickpockets and sharpers / spying through a city of keyholes.' The atmosphere is noir. From the brilliant title poem to the mysterious poignancy of 'Speculative', Joe Lines' investigations of our psychological whereabouts are intelligent, funny, touching: the kind of poetry that demands to be read and reread, as I have done and will do again. - Ciaran Carson

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Joe Lines grew up in West Sussex and lives in Belfast. His poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Ambit, The Tangerine, Causeway and the anthology Urban Myths and Legends (Emma Press, 2016). In 2016, he received an award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland under their Support for the Individual Artist scheme. He studied for a PhD in English at Queen's University Belfast, and his research interests include eighteenth-century literature of crime.

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