Steve Cavanagh's Books

Biography

Stephen Mearns was born in Northern Ireland in 1976 and grew up in Belfast during the troubles. As a child, he always enjoyed reading, but he credits his mother with his love of crime fiction.

“I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and one day my mum gave me a copy of The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. That changed everything, and I read Red Dragon straight after and fell in love with crime and thriller novels.” (Belfast Telegraph)

An Educational Mistake

He attended University in Dublin, where he’d planned to study business studies. Instead, he made his first steps toward a career writing legal thrillers.

“It was the first time I’d lived away from home, so I hit the bars in Dublin, grabbed my matriculation papers the next morning, with a thoroughly installed hangover – and registered for what I believed to be Business Studies. Only I’d gotten the papers mixed up, and in my delicate state, I’d really registered for Law. My grant and fees were paid by the time I realised the mistake. So, I found myself becoming a lawyer, essentially, because I’d joined the wrong queue.” (Belfast Telegraph)

Despite that misstep, he went on to practice employment law. In 2010 he represented an immigrant factory worker who had suffered from prejudice and abuse. He won the most significant race discrimination award Northern Ireland had ever seen. That was a good day at the office.

First Novel

When his mother died in 2011, he took solace in writing and composed his first novel, The Defence. Over 30 agents rejected the text before one offered to represent him. All of a sudden, he had a worldwide seller. He took his mother’s maiden name — Cavanagh — as his pen name so that he could separate his legal work from literary. Cavanagh continued burning the candle at both ends, writing in the evenings and early mornings and practising as a lawyer until 2019, when he began to write full time.

Eddie Flynn

His central character, Eddie Flynn, is a con-man turned lawyer. The idea came to Cavanagh whilst in court. He realised that lawyers and con-men are both concerned with manipulation, distraction and misdirection. He emphasises his point by recounting the story of Clarence Darrow — an American defence attorney famed for distracting juries during the prosecutors closing arguments. On one occasion, Darrow stuck a piece of piano wire through his cigar and then puffed away. The jury was so distracted by the ever-growing stub of ash supported by the wire that they paid little attention to the prosecutor’s closing speech.

The Big Apple

The most misleading element of Steve Cavanagh’s books is that they are all set in New York: a city he hadn’t visited until after publishing his third book. His experience of the Big Apple was all gained watching Kojak and Cagney & Lacey. This might seem disingenuous, but it made it far easier to write stories that everybody could relate to.

“I knew I wanted to write a fast-paced legal thriller. If I’d set the book in the U.K., I would’ve been stuck with our dual system of representation – solicitor and barrister. That would mean I would have to create two lead characters, which I felt I wouldn’t be able to balance very well. Also, it’s hard to write an action scene without making it a comedic experience when one of your characters is wearing a wig and a gown!” (Crime Fiction Lover)

“There would be a lot of world-building going on… but nearly everyone in the world will have a mental image, or at least a good sense, of what New York is like.” (Irish Times)

Besides, he figured that both John Connolly and Lee Child were British, which hadn’t stopped them from setting their novels in the U.S.

Drama is Everything

All of which plays through in Cavanagh’s style of writing. It is strong on plot, action and intrigue, but the details don’t withstand too much investigation. However, that doesn’t matter because you get caught up in the drama. As Cavanagh says, this is the hallmark of a good lawyer.

“A trial is really two sides telling different stories. And whoever tells the best story usually wins.” (Crime Fiction Lover)

All of Cavanagh’s novels have won or been nominated for major awards. Thirteen won the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and the standalone Twisted was shortlisted for the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year. If you read one, keep watching and waiting for the ash to drop. The story will utterly absorb you.