Two New Competitions for February

This month we've got 5 copies of A Vengeful Longing by R N Morris and 10 copies of Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn to give away. There are no geographical restrictions on entrants for A Vengeful Longing, but entrants for Silent in the Grave must reside in UK/Europe. The dastardly competition questions and how to enter and of course what the books are about, can be found on the competition page. Closing date is 29 February.

James Bond book news

Interesting article in Publishing News about Penguin's new James Bond imprint, Quantum of Solace and the new book by Sebastian Faulks:

PENGUIN IS PLANNING the next steps in it successful James Bond publishing programme, following the announcement of the name of the next Bond film, named after an Ian Fleming short story. The title, Quantum of Solace, which refers to the mathematical measurement of love, comes from the collection For Your Eyes Only and is the third story from it to lend its title to a Bond film.

Originally published by Cape in 1961, and in paperback by Pan in 1962, the collection was most recently published in 2006 by Penguin as part of its Bond list. While no details are confirmed yet, Penguin will be talking to the Ian Fleming Estate about plans to tie-in a book to the new film, due for release in November.

“The film was originally going to be called Risico, which is another short story in the same collection,” said Penguin Press Executive Editor Simon Winder, who bought the rights to Fleming's books when running Penguin Modern Classics. “They wanted to keep to a Fleming title - that was important for them. It's actually a very good story - yes, it has an odd-sounding title, but it won't sound odd when the film is a huge success.”

Penguin recently announced the launch of a dedicated imprint, Penguin 007, to publish all its Bond titles, including Devil May Care, the new Bond novel, written by Sebastian Faulks and published on 28 May.

The publisher, as part of its partnership with MySpace's UK operation, has launched a competition to find a 'theme tune' to introduce the audiobook of Devil May Care, released at the same time as the print edition on 28 May. A shortlist chosen by Faulks in conjunction with Matthew Fleming, Ian's great nephew; Dom Cook, Director of Marketing at MySpace UK; Jazzie B, musician and producer, and Alex Clarke, the book's editor. Users of the site will then vote for the winning track which will later be released as a digital download. The book will have its own MySpace page with news, videos and downloadable items, while its publication will coincide with new hardback editions of Fleming's novels to tie-in with celebrations marking the centenary of his birth.

The myspace site is here, where you can submit your track for consideration. The penguin 007 site currently just has the press release for the cover of Devil May Care.

Publishing Deal - new Irish crime writer

From Publishing News:

JULIA WISDOM AT HarperCollins pre-empted UK/Commonwealth rights to two thrillers by Irish debutante Aiveen McCarthy. The Insider, scheduled for next spring, introduces Dublin-based heroine Henrietta 'Harry' Martinez, a whiz computer hacker turned security pro who becomes entangled in her father's financial scams and finds herself the target of a psychopathic murderer. Wisdom, who bought from Laura Longrigg at MBA, describes it as “a breath-taking page-turner, painted on an international canvas”.

Justine Picardie's Daphne to be filmed

Again from Book2Book:

Bloomsbury Publishing is delighted to announce a film deal for Justine Picardie's forthcoming novel, Daphne, to be published in March 2008.

The option has been bought by Robert Fox, producer of the films - Iris, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal and executive producer of Closer and most recently the Golden Globe winning, Oscar nominated Atonement. Daphne will be his next project.

Fox's family had ties with the Du Mauriers and as a child Robert himself visited Daphne at Menabilly, Fowey, the house that would go on to inspire so much of her writing. Justine Picardie is thrilled to have a producer so in tune with this book and its history.

Daphne is published on March 3rd 2008, priced £14.99.

Synopsis:

It is 1957. The author Daphne du Maurier, beautiful, famous, despairing as her marriage falls apart, finds herself haunted by Rebecca, the heroine of her most famous novel, written twenty years earlier. Resolving to write herself out of her misery, Daphne becomes passionately interested in Branwell, the reprobate brother of the Bronte sisters, and begins a correspondence with the enigmatic bibliophile Alex Symington as she researches a biography. But behind Symington's respectable scholarly surface is a slippery character with much to hide, and soon truth and fiction have become indistinguishable. In present-day London, a lonely young woman, newly married after a fleeting courtship with a man considerably older than her, struggles with her PhD thesis. Her husband, still seemingly in thrall to his brilliant, charismatic first wife, is frequently distant and mysterious, and she can't find a way to make this large, imposing house in Hampstead feel like her own. Retreating instead into the comfort of her library, she begins to become absorbed in a fifty-year-old literary mystery.

The last untold Bronte story, "Daphne" is a tale of obsession and possession; of stolen manuscripts and forged signatures; of love lost, and love found. It is a beautiful, original novel from the acclaimed author of "Wish I May".

(OT) Doreen Tovey RIP

Book2Book reports the sad announcement of Doreen Tovey's recent death:

Summersdale Announcement

Doreen Tovey – author

(24th October 1918 – 13th January 2008)

It is, with great sadness, that we report the death of Doreen Tovey.

Over the years, Doreen Tovey's books gave so much pleasure to so many readers.

Full of gentle humour and heart-warming tales, her books described the adventures and antics of the cats (and other animals) with whom she shared her life in Somerset.

Doreen Tovey wrote more than a dozen books (which sold more than 120,000 copies in 10 countries) and she was also president of the Siamese Cat Club.

Her books were serialised in The People's Friend magazine and won her the devotion of many thousands of animal lovers in the UK and overseas. She will be greatly missed by her many, many fans.

"No-one writes about cats with more wit, humour and affection." The People's Friend

"Every so often, there comes along a book – or if you're lucky – books which gladden the heart." Cat World Magazine

Synopsis for A Comfort of Cats:

Tucked away in an idyllic corner of the West Country, you’d think Doreen and her husband Charles would be enjoying a peaceful life – but far from it. Their wily Siamese companions still keep them on their toes.

The Toveys are presented with a new problem when the local cattery closes down. Where will they leave Saska and Shebalu when they go on holiday? And so they buy a caravan to take the cats away with them, only to discover that packing up and leaving home is far from a holiday when seal-points are involved.

As Saska grows ever more boisterous, he develops monkey-like climbing abilities, a knack for opening doors and a somewhat inconvenient obsession with wool. With Annabel the self-willed donkey, Father Adams and a host of gossiping villagers, this is a beguiling tale to enchant and amuse.

I read several of these quite a few years ago when they were hard to track down. Along with the Cat Who books they made me hanker for Siamese cats but we have stuck to rescuing 'moggies' who are still characters in their own right.

Clive Owen's next film

On this week's Film 2008, Clive Owen talks about his new film, The International which is set in Istanbul, Berlin, Madrid as well as New York.

From IMDB: The International centers on an obsessive Interpol agent (Clive Owen) who spearheads an investigation into one of the world's most high-profile and powerful banking institutions in an attempt to expose them for worldwide arms brokering, corruption and murder. Naomi Watts will play a Manhattan assistant district attorney who partners with the agent to take down the bank.

The International is directed by Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run fame and will be out in the US in August and the UK in September.

Watch Film 2008 online for the next 6 days here. The Clive Owen segment is 8 minutes in.

Publishing Deal - A J Hartley

From Publisher's Lunch:

Shakespeare professor and author of Mask of Atreus and On the Fifth Day A.J. Hartley's WHAT TIME DEVOURS, bringing back his disgraced English teacher character to uncover the deadly mystery behind a lost Shakespeare manuscript, again to Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley, in a very nice deal, for publication in Winter 2009, by Stacey Glick at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (NA).

The Demon from Dakar - blurb

Information has been scarce about the new book from Kjell Eriksson, The Demon from Dakar. I've managed to track down just these few lines in a Minotaur catelogue:

In Kjell Eriksson’s riveting new novel, his third to be published here in the United States, his series detective Ann Lindell finds that one of her leading suspects in a brutal murder investigation owns half of a fancy restaurant named Dakar. His partner has been killed, and everyone who works at the restaurant is under suspicion. And then more bodies turn up....

Another triumph, this unforgettable puzzle will cement Eriksson’s reputation among international crime writers.

The Demon from Dakar is published in the US on 29 April.

News page updated

I've added some more links to reviews and interviews in the UK papers to the News page.

Links include - two Guardian reviews of the new John Harvey book, Cold in Hand, and the Independent's interview of Andrea Canobbio.

A Place of Execution to be televised

Val McDermid's A Place of Execution is a wonderful read and one I'd recommend to anyone. Now comes news that it is to be made into a three part tv series:

ITV has commissioned a new three part drama from the team behind Wire in the Blood.

Production will commence in April on A Place of Execution, based on Val McDermid's best-selling novel. Billed as a "taut psychological thriller", the drama "explores, exposes and explodes the borderline between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their heads".

It follows the story of a police officer who tells the story of an investigation into the disappearance of a 13 year old girl to a writer who subsequently discovers new evidence that "shatters the past and turns the world upside down".

Where are they now..Hannah March

Hannah March wrote five Georgian crime novels starring Robert Fairfax which were published between 1999 and 2001. The third one, A Distinction of Blood, was short-listed for the 2001 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger.

Since then Hannah (who is actually a he) seems to have forsaken the crime world. However, I discovered by chance that he is now writing historical fiction as Jude Morgan including the Jane Austen inspired Indiscretion and most recently An Accomplished Woman which is due out in paperback in a few days time.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:
As a young woman, clever, self-reliant Lydia Templeton scandalised society by rejecting Lewis Durrant, the county's most eligible bachelor. Ten years later, Lydia has no regrets and, having concluded that matters of the heart need no longer trouble her, she is quite happy to remain unwed. But others still seek Lydia's advice on their love lives, and when her godmother implores her to take her young ward Phoebe's search for a suitor in hand, it's hard to refuse. In truth, the prospect fills Lydia with horror (especially as she must go to Bath of all places to do it), but poor Phoebe, having managed to promise herself to two men at once, rather needs her help. However, finding a solution to Phoebe's dilemma proves far trickier than anyone imagined. As affairs become increasingly tangled, Phoebe more muddled and Lydia's exasperation grows, the confirmed spinster finds that her own heart is not quite the closed book she thought it was!

I haven't read any Regency romances for quite a few years however all this period drama on tv has encouraged me to order this one at the library. I may even get round to reading it, you never know...

New Reviews on Euro Crime

Here are this week's new reviews and a final reminder of January's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Norman Price, Euro Crime's Italian expert recommends Massimo Carlotto's Death's Dark Abyss - another one of his short books that packs a punch;

Geoff Jones reviews the latest by the prolific author Peter Conway - Deserving Death recommending it to "anyone who likes an uncomplicated detective novel";

Maxine Clarke reviews the first of Martin Edwards' excellent Lake District series - The Coffin Trail calling it "an absorbing read";

Maxine found Hakan Nesser's The Return less compelling than the previous title, Borkmann's Point

and I review the Costa Award winning What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn - the word 'haunting' has been accurately used to describe this book and it is one that will linger in the mind well after the final page has been turned. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


Current Competition (closing date 31 January):

Win a copy of Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis (UK & Europe only)

(geographical restrictions are in brackets)

Reviews delayed a bit...

Reviews are coming soon(ish) today. I'm running a bit late as we had a scenic ride to Redwings at Oxhill today. Whereas last time it was an 80km ride, today it was 90km (56 miles). Redwings is at location 3 on the map below. The ride went in a clockwise direction through Warwickshire's pretty scenery:


It was my fourth longest ride ever and as my mum might say "I'm nick nacky nooed".

Ashes to Ashes - countdown to 7 Feb...

An article in The Telegraph today about Ashes to Ashes has the writers giving their point of view:

'We knew we couldn't have Sam Tyler, considering Life on Mars was all in his head,' Pharoah says. But early last year, he and Graham were travelling to London from their homes near Bath for a meeting with Kudos, the production company that had made Life on Mars. 'I remember vividly, we were on the train between Swindon and Reading and we had the idea: what if a senior female police psychiatrist was so obsessed with Tyler's suicide that somehow she gets in trouble in the present and her mind throws her back to a time and place that was incredibly important to her? Which was London in 1981, when her parents died in a car bomb. Then we got excited and giggling about television shows from the early 1980s. We were off then…'

as well as Philip Glenister on Gene Hunt:

'Gene Hunt sees Alex Drake, thinks he wants to shag her brains out, but knows he never will.' Glenister admits he is 'a bit defensive' about Gene, and was worried when he heard the one-liner that was issued to the press when the new series was announced last year: 'a cross between Miami Vice and Moonlighting'. He recalls thinking with a wince, 'Gene Hunt doesn't do romance.'

Read the whole article here and you can also read producer Beth Willis's diary written as the first few episodes were shot.

(OT) Star Trek XI Trailer

Here's the first trailer for the new Star Trek film, due out at Christmas, complete with Spock voice-over.



It's bigger and better on the official film website. Though that's about all there seems to be on it so far...

New ITV Dramas

From the Guardian:

ITV1 will add a touch of the macabre to its schedule this autumn with a gruesome modern-day Jack the Ripper drama starring Rupert Penry Jones.

One of three three new dramas for the autumn season, Whitechapel stars Jones as Chandler, a media-savvy young detective who works with an eccentric "Ripperologist" to investigate a series of bloody copycat murders.

Phil Davies has been cast as his hard-worn partner Miles in the Carnival Films production.

This autumn will also see Sean Bean return as swashbuckling hero Sharpe, this time training up a ramshackle group of soldiers on a dangerous adventure through India.

ITV has cast Kevin Whately, Geraldine Somerville and Lesley Sharp in its third commission, The Children.

Scripted by Peak Practice writer Lucy Gannon, the tense thriller focuses on the murder of a young girl and questions complex modern family relationships.

Frank Tallis's Vienna Blood now available in the US

The trade paperback of the second of Frank Tallis's historical psychological crime novels, Vienna Blood has recently been published in the US.

Synopsis: In the grip of a Siberian winter in 1902, a serial killer in Vienna embarks upon a bizarre campaign of murder. Vicious mutilation, a penchant for arcane symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victim are his most distinctive peculiarities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disciple of Freud - his friend Dr. Max Liebermann — to assist him with the case. The investigation draws them into the sphere of Vienna’s secret societies — a murky underworld of German literary scholars, race theorists, and scientists inspired by the new evolutionary theories coming out of England. At first, the killer’s mind seems impenetrable — his behaviour and cryptic clues impervious to psychoanalytic interpretation; however, gradually, it becomes apparent that an extraordinary and shocking rationale underlies his actions. . . .

Against this backdrop of mystery and terror, Liebermann struggles with his own demons. The treatment of a patient suffering from paranoia erotica (a delusion of love) and his own fascination with the enigmatic Englishwoman Amelia Lydgate raises doubts concerning the propriety of his imminent marriage. To resolve the dilemma, he must entertain the unthinkable — risking opprobrium and accusations of cowardice.

Read an excerpt on the Random House website.

A Glimpse of Quantum of Solace

CommanderBond.net have a very short video showing a bit of filming of Quantum of Solace. Go here to watch it (needs Quicktime).

Bond and his Quantum of Solace (or not)

The new James Bond film is to be called Quantum of Solace, the title of an Ian Fleming short story.

On the BBC website, Daniel Craig has a go at explaining the title...

Craig said the cryptic title referenced how Bond's heart had been broken at the end of Casino Royale.

"Ian Fleming had written about relationships," he explained.

"When they go wrong, when there's nothing left, when the spark has gone, when the fire's gone out, there's no quantum of solace.

"And at the end of the last movie, Bond has the love of his life taken away from him and he never got that quantum of solace."

Craig said the new film would follow 007 as he goes out "to find the guy who's responsible".

"So he's looking for revenge, you know, to make himself happy with the world again.

"But it the title also alludes to something else in the film," he added.

The film is due for release on the 7 November and the story picks up just half an hour after the end of Casino Royale. Read more about the title, the Bond Girls and M at the BBC website.

Geraldine McEwan giving up Marple

The BBC reports that:

Miss Marple star Geraldine McEwan has announced she is leaving the ITV crime drama, after more than three years playing the amateur detective.

The 75-year-old actress joined the show, based on Agatha Christie's crime novels, in 2003.

"It has been a marvellous experience to inhabit this role for the last few years," she said.

McEwan was the sixth actress to portray the character. Producers are now looking for her successor.

"It's been an absolute pleasure to work on Miss Marple since 2003, and I leave with fond memories." said McEwan.

Since making her debut as Miss Marple in The Body In The Library, McEwan has made 12 more films. Two of them will be broadcast later this year.

and from Digital Spy:

Mathew Prichard, the grandson of Agatha Christie and the chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd, described McEwan as a "wonderful Miss Marple", saying: "I think she brought a humanity and playfulness to the role that worked beautifully in the context of the new approach we adopted for this ITV series.

"We will miss her - but are looking forward to seeing what new aspects of Jane Marple's character our new Miss Marple might be able to explore."

ITV and Marple rights owner Chorion will begin the search for an actress to take over the role next week.