news
Thank you for dropping in again - and many apologies for not having updated the site until now. Several of you have emailed to remind me and here's the answer.
There have been many changes since my last novel - A Poisoned Mind - was published last year. Here's what I wrote then for the catalogue of the wonderful Heffers' bookshop in Cambridge, England:
"THE TOUGH GOOD-BYE
Writers have very odd relationships with their characters. Perhaps the oddest of all is the one between a crime novelist and her series character. Dorothy L. Sayers is reputed to have wanted to kill off Lord Peter Wimsey and yet many commentators have criticised her for so clearly being in love with the shell-shocked, multi-millionaire, aristocratic bibliophile, musician and gastronome.
I've never been in love with Trish Maguire. Nor have I ever wanted to kill her. But she and I have moved apart. When we began our strange marriage, I was emerging from another long-term relationship - with the fantasy figure of Willow King/Cressida Woodruffe - and needed someone more realistic and bracing to carry my fiction into the areas I wanted to explore. Trish had big debts, bigger doubts about herself, spiky hair, and a power shower.
We shared the doubts but nothing much else. (I've never had her spiky hair or, alas, her long thin thighs.) Over the decade we've been together, we've dealt with most of the doubts. Her hair is now sleek. She's paid her debts and sorted her often difficult relationship with solicitor George Henton.
I still like and admire her. I share - obviously - her anger about things like injustice, cruelty, hypocrisy, bullying, and so on. But our long, long conversation has come to an end. I'll never forget her, I'm already hatching plans to give her walk-on parts in the novels I'm plotting now, but those will belong to Someone Else.
More news later...."
Well, here is the news. Trish has taken a back seat and my new character is forensic psychologist Doctor Karen Taylor. The first novel in the series is called NO ESCAPE and to mark the change of character, I am now N J Cooper.
Karen is in her early thirties, based at Southampton University and working often in the Isle of Wight. Because she's a forensic pscyhologist she will almost certainly have to give evidence in court at some stage and then I think she will probably encounter Trish.
NO ESCAPE is available in most good bookshops, including the WHSmith's Travel shops in airports and railway stations, where I gather there is a nice discount...
Foreign rights have been sold to various countries.
In NO ESCAPE, Karen is getting to grips with DSPD, the most dangerous and intractable mental disorder that exists. She becomes involved with a convicted killer called Spike Falconer and is pretty soon in danger herself. To find out more, do visit my publisher's website at http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/No-Escape/N-J-Cooper/9781847374141
Reviews are coming flatteringly. Jessica Mann has written in the Literary Review:
"As [Karen] is drawn into life on the island, and into a police inspector's examiantion of unresolved cases, her theoretical academic work turns into a frightening personal quest.... N J Cooper's novel is a real 'psychological' in that the clues, deductions, and conclusion are all as much dependent on examining human nature as material evidence. The result is a thriller that is both exciting and credible."
And the Guardian review includes:
"One of Cooper's strengths is her ability to unpack ideas and issues, and here she focuses on the psychologist's concept of the brain as the seat of reason and emotion, set against the neurosurgeon's view of it as a purely physical entity. A fascinating, splendidly atmospheric read."
In The Times Marcel Berlins has written: 'No Escape is an altogether satisfying novel'
And in The Telegraph, Jake Kerridge calls it 'excellent', adding: 'Informative and entertaining.'
The novel was launched at this year's Theakston's Old Peculiar Harrogate Crime Writing Festival - which was as successful and well attended as ever, and just as much fun. Laura Wilson, this year's programming chair, did a fantastic job and scored a huge hit with her final event, showcasing David Simon and George Pelecanos of The Wire, who were interviewed by bestselling novelist Laura Lippman.
I've updated the diary below, although some details still remain to be finalised. More events are in the pipeline and will appear in the diary soon.
There are video clips for six of my Trish Maguire novels on the terrific Meet the Author website. The links are:
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1562.html
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1563.html
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1564.html
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1565.html
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1566.html
http://www.meettheauthor.co.uk/bookbites/1567.html
You can also download an audio discussion between me and Paul Blezard, who generously invited me to use it here. You can find the link on my welcome page. I hope you enjoy it.
This time next year, there should be a whole new N J Cooper website, but I will keep up with the news a little more often than I have done last year, so do keep dropping in!
August 2009
Just back from St Hilda's, Oxford, after the 2009 Crime & Mystery Weekend there. Brilliantly organised, as always, by Kate Charles and Eileen Roberts, it provided all the usual fun. Many old friends were there and there was much hilarity, good food, and wonderful chats.
diary dates
23-26 July 2009 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate
4 August 2009 Hendon Library with Laura Wilson and Michelle Spring
11 August 2009 I shall be talking to a group from the University of Wisconsin at Hughes Parry Hall in London WC1
contact: Kathy Ackley
19 August 2009 The Castle Bookshop, Ludlow, Shropshire.
I shall be talking at an event hosted by Kate Charles. More information on:
http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/
21-23 August 2009 St Hilda's Crime & Mystery weekend in Oxford.
I shall be chairing the conference and am also guest of honour.
More information from Eileen Roberts
eileen.roberts@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk
12 September 2009 The Reading Festival
I shall be chairing a panel discussion from 11 am until 12.30 and then giving a crime-writing workshop at 2.30. More information from The Reading Festival
17 October The Guildford Festival - I shall be taking part in the Readers' Day. More information from Pamela Thomas on pamelathomas@btopenworld.com
19 October 2009 Durning Library, Kennington. 6.45
More information from: TO'Dell@lambeth.gov.uk
22 October 2009 6.30 -8.30 THE KINGSTON KILLERS
I shall be appearing with a galaxy of crime writers at Waterstone's, Kingston Bentalls Centre, Wood Street, Kingston, KT1 1TR This is a FREE event, but registration is essential. Please phone Anita, Chris, or Ben on 020 8974 6811
For one night only, all the attending authors' books will be available on a 3 for 2 promotion.
14 November, 2009 Buckinghamshire Readers' Day at Chesham Town Hall.
I shall be taking part in a discussion with Laura Wilson and Michelle Spring - 'If Words Could Kill'. More information from:
msinagoga@buckscc.gov.uk
27 November 2009 I shall be talking to the literary society at Stowe.
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Trish's London from the Embankment to the Wheel
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