About Derek

Derek Farrell has, since childhood, told stories.

Of course, back then they were called lies, and usually got him in to trouble, but nowadays his stories, humorous poetry and song lyrics are entertaining people from Kansas to Crawley.

Derek grew up in a small terrace close to the Guinness brewery in Dublin’s Liberties neighbourhood, where the smell of roasting hops alternated with the yeasty fermentation of the mash, and the cry of the seagulls was interrupted occasionally by the snorting of an escaped cow on the rampage from the abattoir at the bottom of the street.

To date, Derek has completed three novels. His latest novel is a contemporary Cosy-Noir mystery story called Death of a Diva. The book features his wonderfully human detective Danny Bird, and it’s been described as “Like The Thin Man meets Will & Grace via Ab Fab. In Bermondsey.”

Derek’s literary heroes include Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Lawrence Block, Joe Keenan, Steven Saylor, Scott Fitzgerald, Jonathan Harvey, Doctor Seuss and anyone who actually drags their arse to the desk and writes, Goddammit!

His jobs have included: Burger dresser, Bank teller, David Bowie's paperboy, and eventually Investment Banker on the 80th floor of the World Trade Centre. Time in high finance, has given him an opportunity to observe people, to understand the persuasive power of language and to develop an insight into the workings of the criminal mind, whilst allowing him to live and work in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Prague and London.
And all the time, he’s been telling stories.

You should get to know him.

Twitter: @derekifarrell

Here are my most recent posts

The Party Season

Hey there! It’s been a while. I hope you’re doing well and that the nights drawing in (as they say where I’m from) is giving you lots of time to snuggle in, shut the world out and catch up on all those books you’ve been meaning to read. And with that in mind, I...
Updates & Upcoming

Updates & Upcoming

Wow! What a couple of weeks I’ve had. On Wednesday, as part of WORDfest Crawley I interviewed two of my favourite writers at Crawley Library. Dead Rich by William Shaw, writing as GW Shaw, has been described by one reviewer (ie Me) as “Die Hard on a Yacht.” The book...

August Update : Welcome to Dukes Halt

Well Hello there, and Happy August to you. Summer is marching on apace round here, and after eighteen months of lockdown some recent relaxations have allowed my husband and I to get out and about, so we went to Somerset with some friends and had a wonderful time just...
Happy Birthday To Me (Sort of)

Happy Birthday To Me (Sort of)

Gabba Gabba Hey I’m a week late with this July update because last weekend was my birthday and, well, what with cake and presents and trips to Brighton to buy outrageous shirts and books, well, things sort of ran away with me. You know how it is, right? But there’s so...
June Update

June Update

Hey there, and Happy June to you. It’s been a while since I checked in, but I wouldn’t want you to think I’ve been sitting around doing nothing. Au contraire my lovely friends. I’ve been writing and plotting and, well, the fruits of all that labour are about to...