Showing posts with label Luebbe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luebbe. Show all posts

Thursday, 1 October 2009

The Serpent Pool


I’ve said it before, and I am sure I’ll say it again, but blogging has introduced me to a large number of delightful people, both fellow bloggers and readers/commenters, and a good many have shown me a lot of kindness over the couple of years that I’ve been posting to ‘Do you write under your own name?’

Among them is Karen, of Eurocrime, who this week kindly featured advance news of the publication of The Serpent Pool in the UK and the US. I’m pleased to say that negotiations are also well under way with my German publishers Luebbe with a view to the book appearing in translation next year. 

What has gratified me most is the reaction of the three sets of publishers. Each of them has said, separately, that they regard The Serpent Pool as the best of the Lake District Mysteries to date. This is exactly the sort of reaction that one hopes for, of course, but publishers can be robust people in private discussion, and I am sure that none of my publishers would have said this if they didn’t genuinely mean it.

I always want my latest book to be better than its predecessors, but of course, critical opinion can vary. However, I’m looking forward to next year’s publication of this title with a good deal of hope that others will share the enthusiasm of the various publishers.

In the meantime, here is the proposed cover of the US edition from Poisoned Pen Press.


Saturday, 16 May 2009

Kein Einsames Grab



I’ve received my copy of the latest Lake District Mystery to be published in Germany by Luebbe. The Arsenic Labyrinth has metamorphosed into Kein Einsames Grab. As with previous books in the series, the title is not a direct translation, but an attempt to capture the flavour of the story (‘No Solitary Grave’ – a reference to what happens when police search for a body at the labyrinth site up in the Coniston fells.)

I definitely get a kick out of seeing my books appear in overseas editions. I can read German (although I’ve got rather rusty) but I’m not keen on reading my own books once they have been published, and I’ve not had the temerity to check the translation, which is once again by Ulrike Werner – I’m sure she’s done a great job.

Someone asked me if I was planning to do an ‘author tour’ of Germany. Unfortunately, the constraints of the day job do not permit it. But maybe one of these days…