It was early 2013. More
than three years had passed since the publication of the second novel in my
crime series, Blood Atonement. My English publisher had decided they did
not want another, despite good sales – The Blood Detective had briefly and
somewhat surprisingly been the bestselling ebook in the UK – and a couple of
award nominations. I had plans to write more, but due to a mortgage, mouths to
feed, and a more profitable career writing non-fiction, I did wonder if that
was it, loathe as I was to leave it behind.
Then an email landed in
my inbox. It was from Jean-René Dastugue. He had read The Blood Detective
in 2009, said a French publisher might be interested and, when they were,
translated both it and Blood Atonement into French.
The Blood Detective - or Code
1879 as it was known – sold well,
was again nominated for an award and this time even managed to win, which
involved a short but glorious tour of France promoting the book and inflicting
my sub-schoolboy French on unsuspecting readers.
Jean-René was clearly a
talented man. My French was too poor to appreciate his skills, but in France
everyone raved to me about the book and the way it was written. I sometimes
wonder if it was the first book to have gained in translation.
He was also an
enthusiast; he loved my books and characters. This was a joy to hear, after
being beaten up by the publishing industry in the UK, knowing I had written two
very good books but suspecting my publisher – my original editor having
emigrated – didn’t quite share that view.
In France we met and got
on well. He was funny, his wit dry and mordant. He teased me kindly about my
French – which didn’t extend more than Merci
beacoup – but he was more interested in finding out when I’d write the next
book.
I parried, paused and
vacillated. There will be one, I ventured.
‘There must be one!’ he said, banging the
table.
But back in the UK, other
work claimed my time. The enthusiasm I felt on my return from my French tour,
fuelled by red wine, Gauloises and praise, started to dissipate.
Until that email.
‘Please write another,’
Jean-René wrote.
Then came the killer
line.
‘I know you have many
things on your plate but it's such a shame to let these characters gathering
dust like old puppets in a cupboard, lifeless and sad.’
For a few nights to I
was haunted by this vivid image, of my genealogist Nigel Barnes and detective Grant
Foster, characters I had created over several years, lying ignored and neglected
in the dark.
So I opened the cupboard
and let the light in. I already had a plot, or the bones of one, influenced by
the public outrage which surrounded the notorious murder of James Bulger, and I
started to write.
I quickly reacquainted
myself with the bracing and terrifying liberation of fiction, the endless
possibilities. It had been more than two years but Nigel and Grant’s voices
were as familiar as old friends, and just as pleasant to spend time with.
Within a year I had a
draft. Jean-René and my French editor Nathalie Demoulin loved it and La Moisson
des Innocents was published in 2014. Nice reviews and sales followed, as did a well-received
pocket edition.
Now it was time to
publish it here. I had been emailed regularly by readers asking when the third
book was due. It was difficult to explain why it was available in French but
not English, but by now I had made the decision to self-publish via Amazon. In order
to do that I wanted the rights to the first two books so they would also be
available and not out of print. Why publish the third in the series when the
first two were unavailable?
Getting the rights back
was tricky, but thanks to the persistence of my agent Araminta Whitley, my old
publisher relented. The Blood Detective and Blood Atonement were
published last year. Blood Underground, a short story, followed at the end of
the year, allowing me to apply a final edit and polish to the third, originally
called One Soul Less, but now Blood Reckoning.
At last, on May 1st,
more than five and half years since Jean-René’s email spurred me into action, Blood
Reckoning will be available in English for the first time.
Alas, Jean-René is no
longer here to thank. To the sadness and dismay of all that knew him, he died
in August 2017, years before his time.
He was wonderful translator
and a gentle, erudite man. Without him this book, and with it perhaps my crime
writing career, might have stalled for ever.
Merci beacoup, mate.
Blood Reckoning is
available from Amazon from May 1st
