Cattive Compagnie

Garzanti have just published the Italian translation of The Company of Shadows. It's called "Cattive Compagnie" ("Bad Company") and is out now!

Review in The Times!

How exciting to get a review in The Times ... entertainingly, only found out about it when Guy Saville, whose book The Afrika Reich was reviewed in the same issue, friended me on Facebook!

Here's the review, which I had to pay a quid to read ;-)

Ruth Newman’s The Company of Shadows is a tragic love story evolves into a missing-person mystery, then a murder hunt that reaches a bloodthirsty climax in a twisting tale of confused identity and morality.

Londoner Kate has been mourning her dead husband for a year when she sees a man who looks identical to him in her friends’ recent holiday photos. She sets off in search of this improbable twin, first to Miami, then to Sicily, the scene of his death by drowning.

Every step she takes is watched, and anyone she approaches either threatens her or ends up dead, as Kate’s unanswered questions about her husband’s fate drag her ever deeper into a web of danger and deceit.

Topically enough, the finale involves America’s leading Mafia families in a cinematic Las Vegas, where ends that have been twisting in myriad directions are cleverly tied together.

Sijthoff re-releasing Twisted Wing

I'm happy to say that the Dutch translation of The Company of the Shadows, "Schaduwkant", has done quite well in the Netherlands and so the publishers, Sijthoff, have decided to rerelease Twisted Wing.

Previously Vleugels van Angst ("Wings of Fear"), it will now be called simply Vleugels (erm, "Wings" - but you'd worked that out, hadn't you? You're clever), and as you can see, the proposed cover is quite a departure from the previously rather punky version! I think it's Olivia going "where's my fecking punt then?!" Very pretty...

New foreign editions!

Twisted Wing is now out in Portugal under the title Os Rostos Do Mal ("The Faces of Evil"). Meanwhile the Netherlands version of The Company of Shadows is called Schaduwkant ("Shadow Cast"), and the Polish version is titled Cienie Marzeń ("Shadows of Dreams").

So what do you think of the covers? The Portugese masked killer is a bit scary. The Dutch cover does a really good job of making a pic of a girl in a summer dress somewhat sinister. The Polish cover amuses me as the heroine is described in the book as having black hair and grey eyes; but at least the model looks like she would happily kick you in the 'nads, which is appropriate for the character... ;-)

The Company of Shadows

So book 2 is now out! The Company of Shadows was published by Simon & Schuster yesterday. Available via Amazon of course, and there will be signed copies at Heffers in Cambridge from Tuesday onwards.

Flicking through her friends' holiday snaps, Kate Benson receives a sudden shock. For there in the background is her husband, Charlie. Dark hair, blue eyes, familiar smile: there's no mistaking him. But that's impossible. Because Charlie died exactly a year ago. Determined to track down the man in the photograph, Kate follows the trail from Miami to Sicily, where her husband drowned in mysterious circumstances. But when she discovers serious discrepancies in the original investigation, Kate starts to question whether she ever really knew the man she loved so much. Was Charlie murdered? Was their marriage as perfect as Kate remembers? Who are the people following her? Who can she trust? And is Kate herself to be trusted? Because there are secrets in her past too ...

Now onto book 3!

A weekend in Cognac

A couple of weekends ago I went to France for an awards dinner. Twisted Wing, or Les Visages du Mal as it's called on the other side of the Channel, was nominated for Le Prix Polar International. Travelling on Eurostar for the first time (it's great!), we navigated the Metro and the French railway system to arrive in the pretty town of Cognac on Friday night.


I lost out to fellow Brit Lord Jeffrey Archer (above), author of the multimillion-selling Kane & Abel (among other works), on the night, but met some lovely and interesting people. Anne-France, my editor at Editions France, was utterly charming, as were her colleagues Isabelle and Chantal. Lord Archer (or "Jeff", as I like to call him) was very entertaining and encouraging. Journalist Bertrand Rosenthal told us fascinating anecdotes of his time as a correspondent in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Cuba. And French author Sire Cedric made me jealous as he told me he spent six months writing then six months partying! I currently spend five days working, half a day writing, half a day playing Xbox and the rest of the time asleep. At least I got to experience a brief weekend of glamour!

Le Prix Polar International 2009

I'm off to Cognac in France tomorrow to attend the Prix Polar dinner. "Les Visages du Mal", which is what Twisted Wing is called in its French translation (published by Editions France), has been nominated for Le Prix Polar International. I've got no chance of winning - look at the other nominees! - but I'm thrilled to even be included on that list. And I'm also looking forward to spending the weekend in France, meeting my French publishers, drinking lots of Beaujolais and Pinot Noir, and travelling on the Eurostar for the first time!

Hopefully I'll be able to update you next week with entertaining photos of me, tipsy, embarrassing fellow nominee Lisa Unger by gushing about how much I enjoyed "Blackout" (which I was coincidentally reading when I found out about the award nomination)... :-)

13 Writing Tips

Just read Fight Club author Chuck Palaniuk's excellent 13 Writing Tips blog post, and had to pass it on. Tip #1 is excellent advice - the number of times I've procrastinated then wondered why when after 10 mins I'm 'in the zone'... but tips #2 and #3 are the ones that are really resonating with me at the moment:

#2: Your audience is smarter than you imagine. Don't be afraid to experiment with story forms and time shifts. My personal theory is that younger readers distain most books - not because those readers are dumber than past readers, but because today's reader is smarter. Movies have made us very sophisticated about storytelling.

#3: Before you sit down to write a scene, mull it over in your mind and know the purpose of that scene. What earlier set-ups will this scene pay off? What will it set up for later scenes?

I'm editing book 2 at the moment, and there's quite a lot of discussion going on with my readers/editors as to whether certain elements of it are confusing. Basically there's a final surprise at the end, and it's quite an important one that explains a lot about the main character and the love of her life. However my editor wants me to cut it, as there are already a lot of twists, turns and other surprises in the book, and she thinks the foreshadowing/hints I'm dropping are going to confuse the reader - that when they read the hint their reaction will be "huh?", but that it won't be a big enough "huh?" that they'll remember the hint at the end of the book.

So do I follow Palahniuk's advice and trust that the reader is intelligent enough to both pick up on those hints and remember them at the end, when sense can be finally be made of them? My instinct is 'yes'. Maybe the solution isn't to cut the twist altogether, but to weave in more hints, so in the final pages the reader's reaction is "aha! now it all makes sense". I just need to find that fine line between the kind of gossamer foreshadowing that the reader brushes off like a cobweb strung between two lampposts, and sledgehammer foreshadowing that whacks the reader over the head until said twist becomes so obvious that they have a skull fracture.

Wish me luck.

The Company of Shadows

Well we've chosen a title for the second book, and it's not on the list! Thank you nevertheless to everyone who voted!

Here's the back cover blurb for - wait for it - "The Company of Shadows":

Flicking through her friends’ holiday snaps, Kate Benson receives a sudden shock. For there in the background is her husband, Charlie. Dark hair, blue eyes, familiar smile: there’s no mistaking him. But that’s impossible. Because Charlie died a year ago.

Determined to track down the man in the photograph, Kate follows the trail from Miami to Sicily, where her husband drowned in mysterious circumstances. But when she discovers serious discrepancies in the original investigation, Kate starts to question whether she ever really knew the man she loved so much.

Was Charlie murdered? Was their marriage as perfect as Kate likes to remember? Why is she being followed? Who can she trust? And is Kate herself to be trusted? Because there are secrets in her past too . . .

Front Row, BBC Radio 4, Weds 17 June 2009

Ooh, thanks to the lovely tool that is "Listen Again", I just heard Twisted Wing mentioned on the BBC Radio 4 programme Front Row. Mark Lawson and reviewer Jeff Park were lovely about it, and Jeff bigs up Cambridge as the fictional crime capital of the UK!

If you want to listen to it yourselves, it's about 15 mins and 50 secs in: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kwp0z/Front_Row_17_06_2009/

Help me choose the title for book no. 2!

Well book no.2 whizzed its way to my agent, the lovely Vivien Green of Sheil Land Associates, yesterday. Trouble is, we're still a bit stuck with a title! Would appreciate any feedback, either via the poll or via comments... :-)

Twisted Wing out in Italy

I'm happy to say that Twisted Wing is now out in Italy, under the title "Il College Delle Brave Ragazze" ("College of the Brave Girls" or so Google Translate tells me!). Visit the Garzanti Libri website to find out more!

In other news, my lovely German teacher (from way back when - trust me, it's been many years since I was in a classroom!) tells me she's persuaded her book group to read Twisted Wing - thanks Mrs O!

Twisted Wing out in China

Fellow blogger Joann Chang, who writes a mystery blog in China, has kindly emailed to let me know that the traditional Chinese translation has just come out, with the title 扭曲的翅膀. You can buy it here, but just a warning - avoid the mini extract beneath as it's a bit of a spoiler!

Twisted Wing reviewed in the Spectator

The online review of Twisted Wing has appeared on the Spectator's website today; think the print issue is due out imminently. Have just noticed that it appears to have been written by Nigel Lawson - blimey! It's exciting enough to be reviewed at all, let alone by someone as well known as Nigel Lawson!

Hopefully they won't mind me reprinting the review in full:

A crime story of a more serious kind is Twisted Wing, by Ruth Newman, which is set in Cambridge. The novel begins at the fictitious Ariel College, where a third female student in two years has been gruesomely murdered. Sitting next to the butchered corpse, bruised and insensible with shock, is Olivia Corscadden, another student. Matthew Denisoan, the psychologist attached to the case, is convinced that Olivia saw what happened, but for weeks she is in a state of terror-induced catatonia to the point where she has to be tube-fed. When her condition improves, Denison interviews her and a shocking picture begins slowly to emerge, as Denison and his colleagues in the police try to capture a serial killer.

In structure, this is classic crime fiction, with a ring of suspects, false leads and deftly laid twists — the very stuff of Morse and Marple. In content, however, it is less homely. By comparison with Twisted Wing, an episode of Taggart seems positively dainty: this novel explores deep psychosis and child abuse, among other horrors, and presents murders of extraordinary bloodthirstiness, so that one is alternately impressed by the technique and chilled by the effect.

There are just a few teething problems in this strong debut. It could have done with better proofing, to excise errors such as ‘she was sat’ and to rework the odd infelicity of style. The ending also, while gripping, left some small areas of the plotting looking questionable. But Newman is a good new writer, and Twisted Wing is a well-paced, rigorously researched and captivating crime novel which would lend itself to a screen adaptation.

Think I might have to insist the next edition of the book has "Makes Taggart look dainty" plastered across the cover - love it!

See the review on the Spectator's website »

Twisted Wing Book Launch at Heffers

Cripes, it's been a while since an update, eh? Think I might have to start doing posts wittering about nothing in particular, rather than waiting till I have book-related news!

Last month the launch party for Twisted Wing took place in Heffers Bookshop, Cambridge. Loads of lovely friends and family turned up, coming from London, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Reading and also just down the road! Had a very pleasant surprise when two old school friends, Adina and Mey Yee, turned up unexpectedly, and we followed the party by going to the local tapas bar and getting sozzled on cava sangria. Those of you that have read the book may recognise Adina's name; she's a barrister, and helped me out with some of the legal aspects of the book. Naming a character/street/shop after someone is a little shoutout of thanks! Tracey Webb, a character in the book who discovers the first body, is named after my friend Tracey who happens to run the website where I work. I've promised her she can play the role in the movie, as long as she's prepared to do a Mrs Overall impression (Tracey Webb is a cleaner), but she seems strangely unimpressed by this offer.

In other news Simon & Schuster, who will be publishing the mass market paperback edition of Twisted Wing next Spring, have just bought my second novel (which currently has a working title of All the Old Familiar Places), which should be out in the Summer of 2010. I met them for the first time recently and they're a lovely bunch, so I'm looking forward to working with them again. Next to deliver draft v2 by the end of May!

Twisted Wing out in France on 22 Jan 2009

And next on the whistlestop tour of lovely European countries is France, where Twisted Wing is called Les Visages du Mal ("The Faces of Evil"). Love that cover, what a clever idea to have the gargoyle high above the Cambridge skyline. I'm looking forward to getting my free copies of the Polish and French translations so they can go on my dedicated bookshelf of gloatiness.

The Christmas FrightFest went as planned - "The Mist" was my Mum's favourite, but boy was it bleak. "Death Line" was a load of pants, don't bother. Also don't bother with "The Breed", a Michelle Rodriguez film about very intelligent but violent dogs - I nearly wet myself during one particularly silly scary scene involving a seaplane. If the director had been playing it for laughs it would've been edited in exactly the same way. There were lots of shots throughout of dogs gathering on the horizon which were obviously meant to be very ominous, but just made you go: "aw, look at that cute little doggie, look how fluffy he is!" And the dogs practically wagged their tails during the attack scenes they were having so much fun. (Note: this mocking tone would not have applied had the film makers decided to go with spider baddies rather than canine baddies. Although can spiders chew through your mooring rope so your only method of escape begins to float away then wait for you casually on the wings of said seaplane, looking for all the world like they're chillaxing till their wrangler waves a doggie biscuit behind the camera? No.)

All The Old Familiar Places (working title for book no.2) is nearly done - took a red pen at it over the weekend and rewrote a couple of key scenes. Having said that, a very honest mate who's currently reading it told me a couple of days ago: "that doesn't work, that should be in the third person, that bit is too smug". So when he's finished and has given me all his feedback I'll need to a) do another draft, b) find some way of dismembering and disposing of his bloody corpse so no one will ever find it again...

Twisted Wing out in Poland

Looks like Twisted Wing is now out in Poland, where it is going by the title "Bal Absolwentów" - which my good friend Ania K. translates as "Graduates' Ball". Let's hope no one buys it expecting anything along the lines of "Pretty in Pink", eh? ("Pretty in Blood Red" etc. etc.)

Saw "Changeling" on Monday. What a lovely, festive film. Really put me in the Christmas spirit. Having said that, my Xmas plans currently revolve around me and my mum having a DVD version of Frightfest, with movies currently lined up including "The Exorcist", "Cloverfield" , "The Mist" and "Death Line", an early 80s film about zombies infesting the Tube. Can't wait!

Obama makes history

Back in January I wrote "Looks like we've got a pretty good chance of a Democrat in the White House next election (to paraphrase Chris Rock, Dubya did such a bad job that there's no way a white guy can get elected)." Well following the Republication Convention when McCain got a bump in the polls, that statement was starting to look a bit shaky. You can imagine my relief then when Barack Obama won the election.

At the start of the primaries I was a Hillary fan - as a woman I was loving the idea of a fellow female in the White House - but I remember picking up a magazine (not sure which one - Forbes? The Economist?) and reading a piece by her opponent, Barack Obama. Not that it was any help to him - I couldn't vote, I couldn't even donate money to his campaign - but he won me over right there and then. Part of the article talked about the way America approached other countries and cultures: as they believe their democracy is the greatest in the world, they can sometimes find it hard to see the value in different ways of life. Just the idea of someone who could speak to the Arab people, for example, with respect for their beliefs whether or not it was a belief he shared, seemed such a breath of fresh air after the past eight years of the Bush doctrine.

My friend JT kindly invited me and friend Tracey round to his to watch the election kick off. As you can tell by our hats, we were completely bi-partisan. Nearly every commentator (except a few of the Republicans, natch) were talking as though an Obama win was a foregone conclusion, which promoted an atmosphere more of expectation than nail-baiting tension.

JT and I had spent a night the previous week watching the last few episodes of the final season of The West Wing. Remember the scenes of Josh Lyman and Matt Santos having to watch the TV like everyone else to find out which candidate each state was being called for, I couldn't help imagining what Obama was feeling as he and his team saw the results coming in.

Once Ohio was called for Obama it was pretty much all over bar the shouting. By that time I was at home in my PJs, sat on the sofa under a duvet eating tortilla chips and trying not to fall asleep. You'd think the Yanks would be more understanding and try and get their results in a little earlier so their transatlantic neighbours could get some sleep.

In Arizona, McCain's HQ announced that he would address his supporters at 5am - the election hadn't been called for Obama yet, but there was pretty much no chance of McCain winning with Ohio out the window, so everyone knew it was going to be a concession speech. And with Virginia and Florida being called for the Democrats, it was official - America's 44th president was going to be Barack Hussein Obama.


I watched crowds going crazy in Grant Park, Chicago, and Times Square, New York. I wished I was there. I shed a tear. So did Jesse Jackson; no doubt he was thinking of his old friend Martin Luther King.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Obama took to the stage and everyone just went crazy. At times it seemed as though his speech would soar to the same kind of heights as King's had in '63, but he reined it in. No point in spinning everyone into a frenzy of even greater expectations when, as he said, "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term".

For those of us that were sad to be observers rather than participants, he seemed to be speaking to us when he said:

"To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-text1105,0,2684817.story

When I finally made it to bed at well gone five am, I was a very happy bunny. Still, his inauguration seems a long way away. Roll on 20th January 2009!

Where did the summer go?

"What summer?" some of you may well ask.

In between entertaining myself with the Xbox's Lego Star Wars game (Chewbacca pulls stormtroopers' arms out, it's genius) and finally sorting out the back garden (yes, my life is this glamorous), I spent my hols finishing off book no.2.

It's not a crime novel as such - no serial killers or detectives - but I'm hoping I can get away with writing something in a different genre. I'm looking to two of my fav authors - Harlan Coben and Dennis Lehane - as examples here: if your second genre is that of the thriller, maybe it's not too much of a leap? ;-)

It's 98% ready to get picked apart and put back together again, I just need to work out how to do the epilogue. At the moment I'm thinking of switching from first person to third and from past tense to present ... still, there's a lot of info to convey and I know how annoying it can be when you feel as a reader like you were left by the side of the road while the characters disappear off by themselves. Maybe inspiration will strike soon!

Never judge a book by its cover

Here's the fab cover for the UK version of Twisted Wing. I think it sums up the book really well - it definitely gets across the Cambridge feel, and I love the fact it's taken from the shadows.

The novel's currently scheduled for release in March 2008. Susan, the publisher, tells me that the ARCs (advance reader copies) should be ready soon. Can't wait to hold one in my hand!





This is the Dutch cover. Think it's being published in the Netherlands in the summer. This cover's a bit more edgy - I like the effect of the blood being the only bit of colour in the picture. The title translates to "Wings of Fear", which is pretty funny. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the book title turns out to be in different countries - I get the feeling it might be very entertaining!

At the last count the book is going to be translated in seven other languages - Dutch, Italian, Portugese, German, Chinese (for Taiwan), Polish and Romanian. I'm going to put a copy of each on a special bookshelf so I can stroke them erotically on a regular basis.

Book no.2 is currently at 85,000 words, and I've just finished drafting the structure of the final segment. There's still a lot of writing to do, so I'm thinking I might take a week off work in the summer and get my head down. For a few weekends I was on a real roll of 5,000 words a session, and if I could maintain that over five days I'd be very happy. Something tells me I may need to get my boyfriend to lock my PVR and XBox 360 in a cupboard though if I'm not going to find myself procrastinating!