DEAD WOMAN WALKING - Update on Pub-date

Having been well and truly punished for the hubris of announcing the publication date of Dead Woman Walking - which is still not available - at least I now understand what's happened.
The book is being published by a small firm, Cornovia Press, which specialises in books with a Cornish connection. Mine is that I have lived in Cornwall for most of my adult  life, and am married to   Cornishman, Charles Thomas. Cornovia  produced my husband's most recent  book beautifully. Gathering The Fragments  is a collection of miscellaneous articles and essays that originally appeared in obscure places or, like a couple  of  funeral addresses, were never printed at all. Incidentally, it's a perfectly delightful volume!

The Cornovia Press, like many other small publishers, is not using conventional print methods, which involve a big outlay of capital and require storage space for the books. Instead the books are produced by Lulu, i.e. print-on-demand. Lulu then offers small publishers a Distribution Deal, which gets supplies of a new book to shops and distributors. Cornovia's experience has been that these distribution deals  have always been active a few days either side of the six week mark, and planned accordingly.

Well, you can guess the rest........next episode to follow!

Dead Woman Walking

The publication date of Dead Woman Walking  was supposed to be August 8th. But there's many a slip between promise and performance, and this particular one has taken an almighty tumble. Five days on and there's still no sign that the book's ready to distribute. If anyone - apart from my publisher and me - is waiting for a finished copy all I can say is that it's really coming. Soon.
Which is all I can promise myself too.

Another lovely review

Martin Edwards writes, and writes about, crime  fiction,  and maintains one of the subject's most perceptive blogs, entitled (for reasons that are painfully obvious to his colleagues!) Do  You Write Under Your Own Name? It is a fascinating contribution to the crime fiction's history and criticism - and that he keeps it up so regularly, as well as having a day job as a solicitor, is most impressive. Given that he is so expert in the subject, praise of  a crime novel from Martin is praise indeed. So it's blatant boasting to direct you to his review of Dead Woman Walking. who, though, could resist boasting about this one?


http://www.doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.co.uk/

see the post published on Wednesday 7 August.

An unsolved mystery

Having mentioned the disappearance of  the post I wrote about Any Questions, I should probably mention its reappearance. How, where from and why I don't know - but dated Sunday 28th July, there it is!

JINXED!

I have realised that I'm something of a jinx on publication dates.
For example: The day the paperback edition of one of my best reviewed and best-selling novels was due to come out,  the distributor's computer broke down. It was  out of action for 6 weeks, so  by the time the book was available, all the pre-publicity and reviews were forgotten. Predictably, the sales figures were disappointing. Then, when  offered the next book, the publisher turned it down because  because the paperback of the last book hadn't sold!
Some other similar episodes should have taught me to predict and promise more cautiously. I should have known that it was tempting fate to announce August 8th as the publication date of DEAD WOMAN WALKING. And fate hasn't resisted temptation: the book is not ready or available yet after all. But this time I'm not saying when it actually will be available - because if I did, it wouldn't!

Life's Minor Mysteries

One of the minor mysteries of cyber-life: last week, after appearing on Radio 4’s Any Questions programme, I wrote a long post about the experience. It disappeared into cyberspace at some point between then and now. Can it have been censored? Hardly: it was a very innocent piece! Perhaps if I rewrote it with the addition of a little vitriol, the cyber-censors would leave it up. But rewriting is no fun. I will do some more posting and  boasting,  instead, because Dead  Woman Walking, though not officially published for another week, has already had reviews worth reading.

N. J. Cooper, herself one of today's best crime writers, and  most original commentators on the subject of crime fiction, has written an interesting piece about my book in the online book review magazine, Book Oxygen - a site that anyone interested in contemporary writing should follow.

And here is Lizzie Hayes, in  Mystery People.

 The characterisation is masterly, gives the reader the person without the need for description. Isobel recounts at one point: "When I left him, Hector blamed 'those bra-burning harpies' and if he could he would have cited the woman’s movement as the co-respondent in our divorce."

As the story progress more and more layers are stripped away from the characters, and a sad but gripping tale of mystery and vengeance is revealed. If the novel has a message it is that one should be careful of making decisions that not only effect but can change and destroy lives. This book is highly recommended.

Thanks, N.J.Cooper and Lizzie Hayes: you've made my day, week, month or even year!

A Bit of  a Boost and a Bit of a Boast



My new book, Dead Woman Walking, to be published on 8th August,  has had a couple of lovely advance reviews.
One (unsigned) appears in the Western Morning News today (30 July):

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Author-returns-crime-novel-debut-21st-thriller/story-19586385-detail/story.html


The other is from the on-line magazine Crime Time, and is by the expert on crime fiction, Barry Forshaw. Here it is:

Apart from a distinguished career as a crime writer and social historian, Jessica Mann has long been one of the most acute critics of the crime fiction genre. In this economical but authoritative novel, Mann (who has written 21 crime novels and four non-fiction titles) demonstrates that her skill in the field of malign human behaviour remains as ironclad as ever.

Gillian Butler left Edinburgh five decades ago – or at least that is what her friends have always believed. But when her lifeless body is discovered, it becomes imperative to remember who last saw her alive – and, accordingly, a vividly drawn dramatis personae is paraded before our eyes. The reader is invited to draw their own conclusions about how she died. As ever with this author, the intelligent (and complex) texture of the novel matches its sheer storytelling nous.

Dead Woman Walking by Jessica Mann is published by the Cornovia Press