Beginner’s pluck: Company co-owner and director Joseph Birchall

Joseph Birchall has previously self-published two books; one about a year in a Kibbutz — and the other a novel, 'Surviving Michael'.

A born reader, Joseph won a writing competition aged 10.

“I had a real interest in essays,” he says, “and I was a good student until secondary school. Then I lost interest.”

Leaving school in 1987, when unemployment was high, he got an apprenticeship as a mechanic, eventually working for Toyota.

“But I had an urge to travel and went to France and then to a Kibbutz. I met an Israeli girl and stayed a year or two.”

Home again, he secured a job as a Dublin bus driver.

“I did that for three years, then applied for the gardaí. But meanwhile, my brother offered me a job in Santa Barbara,” he says.

I stayed for three years, then became a driver for An Post.

Three years later, he returned to the Kibbutz and married his Israeli girlfriend, staying for two years. But the marriage didn’t last.

In 2004, Joseph and his brother set up Gifts.ie: “I worked for An Post as well, until the business took off.”

Thanks partly to covid, Gifts.ie expanded and is still thriving.

Joseph has previously self-published two books; one about a year in a Kibbutz — and the other a novel, Surviving Michael.

In Plain Sight took two years to write. He has since written two sequels.

Who is Joseph Birchall?

Date/ place of birth: 1970/ Tallaght, Dublin.

Education: Tallaght Community School.

Home: Tallaght.

Family: Wife Eileen, a psychotherapist; daughter, Kai; sons, Christopher, aged 15, and Jamie, aged 12.

The day job: Co-owner and operations director of Gifts.ie.

In another life: “I would love to have led a life like Beckett — to have lived in Paris with life being all about the writing.”

Favourite writers: Tony Parsons; Alex Hailey; Kalid Husseini; Patrick Suskind; Stephen Fry’s biographies; Patricia Gibney.

Second book: A sequel — Reported Missing. “It’s with my editor.”

Top tip: “Read all genres and write every day.”

Website: www.josephbirchall.com

Instagram: @Joseph_birchall_author.

The debut

In Plain Sight

Poolbeg Crimson, €16.99

Joining the serious crime division, Garda Darcy Doyle is determined to prove herself — and arrest a serial killer — but will the assigned Det Mick Kelly, who is past his best, scupper things for her?

And what of her past trauma? When it rears its head, can she save herself?

The verdict: A brilliant, twisty thriller.