Limerick's Keith McCoy pens a page-turning novel

GROWING up, Limerick's Keith David McCoy was never interested in books - he could never sit still. One summer in the late 90s, he was working nights as a nurse and was on suicide watch for an uncommunicative patient.

After three nights, Keith picked up a biography of Frank Sinatra to keep himself stimulated. That evening, his patient spoke to him for the first time - “You can read that aloud if you want”.

That summer, Keith read a dozen books to his patient. Fast-forward, and now the Newcastle West native has three books under his belt.

“Because I'm a mental health nurse, and I've worked in mental health circles for so many years, I wanted that to always find its way into the stories in some ways and bring mental illness services and individuals into it,” says Keith.

Born and raised in Limerick, he moved to London to attend university, where he trained as a mental health nurse. Now, he lives in Manchester with his two children and his partner, Sophie.

Published in August 2023, Schizo Pig tells the story of Detective Lawrence Barry, who having overcome suicide and those that wished him dead, gets back to solving crime.

Now, the detective has to find the killers of a nun and a sex worker, whilst managing a personal identity matter and keeping his illness in check.

He becomes aware of connections between the government, the underworld, the church and the gardai. This powerful cabal have the means to achieve their ultimate goal, which is a new but backward Ireland, that benefits no one apart from them. Lawrence aims to do what's right.

Will his enemies win by just discrediting him, or will they have to kill him? With plenty of twists and turns and an array of colourful characters, Schizo Pig is a modern Irish novel with roots in some of Ireland’s disappointing past.

Speaking of the inspiration behind Schizo Pig, the author explains: “I had these characters in my head, I had written a couple of other novels, but my first novel was a comedy called Hello Larry Barry with detectives. And even though it was a comedy, and that novel was done, the characters were alive in my head and I thought I could do something different with them.

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“I thought I could do a story that's legitimate, straight crime fiction, no comedy, where the characters are seen differently, this time they're seen in reality, and it gives them a different storyline.”

Throughout his writing career, Keith has so far gone from comedy to action to crime fiction. This time around, he was inspired by Ireland’s rich history.

“I just started thinking about Ireland's rich history. Then there's the modern Ireland, and I just thought that with all of this historical stuff, it would be interesting to write it and see if I could find a storyline that fits with the modern global world, how we're interconnected with a lot of these other countries,” he says.

He had a closer look at what is passed down from one generation to the next.

“When I look at societies in terms of how the different societies have passed on from generation to generation, there's a message in the book about how certain things happen in one generation, and it has an impact on another,” he notes.

According to Keith, authors have, to some extent, be quirky.

“I think that if you sit down to write, you have to have a bit of a quirkiness about you to find your way into different people's heads, so that you can kind of write about their stories,” he says.

Taking us back to the moment he realised he wanted to write his first book, Hello Larry Barry, he recalls: “It was a strange moment because I've got a job. I was doing an MBA at the time, and I was halfway through it. I had this idea for a novel and I just thought to myself, God, where has this come from? And I was thinking I need to write it. But then at the same time, I was thinking to myself, gosh, Keith, you've got a young family, a busy job, you're doing an MBA, the last thing you really need to be doing now is writing a novel.”

Then and there, he made a promise to himself - write three pages and pick up the story once he was done studying.

“I was wondering if there was something within my mind that was kind of some sort of self harm whereby I distract myself by doing this novel and mess up everything else and come out with absolutely nothing, wouldn't have the MBA, wouldn't be doing well at work and never completed the novel,” he explains.

“Then I parked it and I just said that in 15 months when I'm finished with the MBA, I'll come back and I'll try and write this. So I came back to it in June 2019 and wrote that over 12 weeks. And I didn't know if I could write it, but once I'd done the first 10, 000 words, then I knew it was going to happen.”

Even though he now lives in Manchester, the author cannot help but try to make his way back to Limerick a couple of times a year.

“When there are weddings, it's always a positive opportunity to come back. I've been quite tied into Newcastle West. I would say I've probably got more connections on Facebook with people from Newcastle West than anywhere else in the world,” he laughs.

The name of his third novel, Schizo Pig, might put off some. But he is keen to point out it’s not about what some might think.

“Don't be put off by the title and don't think that it’s insulting to anybody. The title of the book hasn't got anything to do with any person, and hasn't got anything to do with any animal. So, I would kind of urge people not to wonder if the title is referencing any individual or if it's being unkind in any way. What the title means, I can’t really tell without giving away too much, it would spoil the book,” he teases.