Jess Kidd Books In Order

Publication Order of Alfie Blackstack Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Despite the fact that Jess Kidd was born and raised in London, her family is from the small town of Mayo. Deal’s familiarity with the landscape and dialect as well is evident in her writing. Jess Deal possess an exceedingly lovely and unforceful style. Immediately after completing her undergraduate degree from Open University, Jess Kidd was blessed with a daughter. Kidd continued to study and work part-time before she eventually received her Ph.D. in creative writing studies. Jess Kidd’s dissertation focused on the ways and manner is which disparate genres and modes can be brought into correspondence so as to create new hybrid forms of crime fiction.

Kidd’s research covered numerous key magical realists texts and crime fiction, together with the work of Dylan Thomas and John Millington Synge. Jess has continued to teach creative writing to adult learners and at the undergraduate level. She has also continued to serve as a support worker who specializes in acquired brain injury, a Rector, a PA and also an administrator at one of the local community centers. In the next few years, Jason Kidd plans to settle somewhere along Ireland’s West Coast, with her daughter. Currently, Jess Kidd is completing her second and third books. She is also working on her fourth novel and her very first collection of short stories, a majority of which have been set in Ireland or feature Irish protagonists.

Born in the year 1973 in West London, Jess Kidd had to leave her studies while she was studying for her A levels education. After completing an access course, Jess Kidd joined St. Mary’s University, where she attained a degree in English. However, she had to drop once again from school when she discovered that she was pregnant. Jess Kidd had no other option other than to look after her child while working in a number of office jobs and social care as well. This, in turn, meant that it was going to take her long to complete her degree through the Open University. In the year 2009, Kidd was able to secure a bursary for her Masters at the well-established St. Mary’s University.

Jess Kidd Best Books

Letter bombs, poisoned scones, a 1970s Irish village that is more than desperate to maintain its pious façade, and a hero who sees dead people; the ingredients of drama and mystery are all present in Jess Kidd’s debut novel. Citing Under the Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and The Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge as its inspiration, Himself sets up as a tale of viciousness and death in a narrow-minded, close-knit community, where any of the residents could be a suspect. An exceedingly gripping prologue in style similar to Grimm’s fairytale, Himself sees a baby who is abandoned in a forest, after the baby’s outcast mother is heartlessly murdered in the year 1956. The novel, Himself then alternates between Mahony, the adult orphan, a journey to the town of Mulderrig, more than twenty years later, and the murder of the exceedingly beautiful Orla.

Later on, Mahony receives a photo of himself and a letter that warns him to trust anyone in the town of Mulderrig. With a humorous tone, the author, Jess Kidd can bring lightness to the events, with characters being introduced vividly and speedily in a similar fashion to an Agatha Christie mystery. Tadgh, a Loquacious publican, Farrelly, the Puritan widow, Jack Brophy, the upstanding sergeant and Fr. Quinn, the weasel-like parish priest, make up an exceedingly colorful and clichéd cast. In his twenties, Mahony is armed with the letter and a photograph that he had been. His mission is to find out exactly what happened to his mother. Mahony is not only scruffy, but he also has that devil may care smile which seems to floor every woman that he meets with. He also oozes with charm. Every place that Mahony heads to human and animal ghosts tumble all around him from time to time. Both the animal and human ghosts are all out to help him.

Irrespective of the fact that he constantly receives resistance from a village, which harbors secrets, lies and a killer, Mahony is more than determined to figure out what exactly happened to his mother. Mahony eventually finds himself protected and allied to a group of Irish women that no one would want to mess with. Mrs. Cauley is an exceedingly strong and frail elderly actress, who possess a magical library and insists on looking into Orla’s sudden death. She is a woman who is not afraid of shaking qualms to see what will fall out. Furthermore, she is also not afraid of the danger that lurks. Mahony’s landlord is Shauna, and she happens to fall in love with Mahony. She is more than determined to ensure that no harms fall in the way of Mahony.

Due to the fact that the author is of Irish descent, Jess Kidd believed that it was only right that her first novel, Himself, should definitely head to the West. Furthermore, an imaginary town and village seemed like an ideal place to experiment with the blending of crime fiction and other elements. Kidd recalls the summers that she spent as a child on Ireland’s West Coast wandering across her relatives farm. Jess Kidd believed that each place that she went was inhabited by different types of creatures. For her main character, puzzled ghosts of the dead, who follow the protagonist throughout the town as if they are trying to find answers, inhabit the town of Mulderrig. As the book begins to get shape, the author begins to reveal some of the major questions that revolved around the disappearance of the outcast mother, Orla.

At the moment, Jess Kidd has already completed two more drafts for two different sets of novels. The first novel is a modern crime novel that has been set in West London. The novel is full of Irish characters. The next novel is a magic realist extravaganza that has been set in Victorian London. It is a gothic tale that is full of surgery and steampunk science. All in all, the characters in the novel Himself have been carefully crafted and created. Jess Kidd has done an excellent job of weaving the supernatural into the fabric in such a manner that it comes as unexpected.

3 Responses to “Jess Kidd”

1. Emelie M Jeffers: 8 months ago

   I read “Himself”and loved it so I ordered “Mr. Flood’s Last Resort”, “The Hoarder” and “Things in Jars”. I finished Mr Flood and started The Hoarder only to find that they are one in the same. Same book, two different titles. What’s up?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 8 months ago

     They are the same book but with a different title. It was Mr. Flood’s Last Resort in North America, and The Hoarder in the UK. Hopefully you can get a refund from where you purchased it from.

     Reply
2. Alice Concannon Dupre: 5 years ago

   Definitely enjoying HIMSELF! AS AN Irish American, im so very much appreciating the people of “Mulderrig.As well, looking forward to reading Jess Kidds’ other books

   Reply