About J.D Larkin
J.D. Larkin is an Irish author who doesn't believe in being tied to one genre. Crime fiction, historical fiction, and beyond—he writes wherever the story takes him. The thread running through all of it is the same: ordinary people navigating extraordinary situations, told without pretence.
He didn't come to writing through the usual doors—no degree, no literary background. Just decades of stories building up while he worked with his hands, raised a family, and figured life out along the way. The imagination never switched off. Long drives, quiet moments, conversations with strangers—everything feeds the work.
He is obsessive about accuracy. If a scene is set in London, the bus route has to be the right bus route. If a character walks down a street, that street has to exist. He rewrites every manuscript as many times as it takes until it reads true.
His debut novel, Route 53, was published in 2025, with more books in the pipeline.
The stories behind the stories
My stories come from everywhere—a conversation overheard in a pub, a face on a bus, a news headline that won't leave my head. I've always been someone who watches and listens. Years of working with people from all walks of life gave me more material than I could ever use. I'm drawn to characters who don't have it easy. People trying to do right in difficult circumstances, or people who've made the wrong choices and have to live with them. The grey areas interest me more than the black and white.
Placeses matter
I write about Dublin, Wicklow, London—places I know, streets I've walked. Getting the details right isn't just about accuracy; it's about respect for the reader and for the places themselves. And honestly? A lot of it comes from my own head—the stories I've been telling myself for years to get through long shifts, sleepless nights, and the harder moments. Writing is just finally letting them out.
where to start: Route 53
Route 53. It's my debut, and it's the book that made me believe I could actually do this. Everything I care about as a writer is in there—authenticity, real places, characters you'd pass on the street without a second glance but who carry whole worlds inside them. If you want to know what kind of stories I tell, start there.
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JD Larkin