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Friday, August 31, 2012

Those Mountains Have History - DAY 2 RED RIBBONS BLOG TOUR

This is starting to feel like a countdown, well I suppose it is in a way!!!
The blogtour RED RIBBONS' BUS arrives at Teacher Moloney King today.
With variety being the spice of life, myself and Michelle got talking about Mountains, isolation, black cats, and haunted buildings!!
Check it out HERE

Entrance to our attic bedroom where Robert Emmet & his fellow  rebels hid in 1803

HELL FIRE CLUB

Thursday, August 30, 2012

It's All Happening in Katy's World

 
 
The amazing Katy O'Dowd kick starts the RED RIBBONS Blog tour Today, and you can read my answers to her deep delving devilish questions right HERE
 
 
You can also listen to last night's interview on SUNSHINE 106.8 FM HERE
 
 
Only 4 Days to Publication folks - getting closer all the time!!!!
 

Monday, August 27, 2012

RED RIBBONS - BLOG TOUR ...it's all happening!

Well it's all about to kick off and already the RED RIBBONS blog tour is proving novel and different!

We don't have a 1 Week Blog tour - We don't have a 2 Week Blog tour, but rather a
 2.29 WEEK BLOG TOUR!

Starting Thursday the 30th August, the tour begins with the lovely lady herself, Katy O'Dowd, and ends Friday 14th September, with the wonderful, Brian Kirk.

All participants are great friends of mine. You might follow some of them already on Twitter, Blogger or Facebook, but if not, they are folks who are great fun to connect with and who are also extremely generous and supportive to me by facilitating the RED RIBBONS (2.29 Week) Blog tour.




Thursday 30th August 2012

KATY O'DOWD, is an arts and entertainment journalist and has worked for Time Out, Associated Newspapers and Comic Relief and her articles have appeared in The Times (London), Metro (London) and many other arts and entertainment publications, paper and online.
She reviews for the Historical Novels Review and the British Fantasy Society, is a commissioning editor at Pendragon Press and is co-editor of the Nasty Snips II Project for that press.
Alongside writing with her Dad under the pen-name Derry O’Dowd, whose first book ‘The Scarlet Ribbon’ was chosen to launch the History Press Ireland’s fiction line, she writes under her own name.
‘The Lady Astronomer’, a YA Steampunk novel, is out with Untold Press this Autumn. She is currently writing a Steampunk adult series because writing for tweens and teens is damnably hard work.
Visit Katy at  www.katyodowd.com                                                 And on Twitter @katyod


Friday 31th August 2012


MICHELLE MOLONEY-KING, is a primary school teacher, writer, avid reader and a pretty awesome person! She blogs about country life, books, school, IT, flash fiction and more at http://teacherMoloneyKing.com

Visit Michelle at http://teacherMoloneyKing.com                       And on Twitter @MoloneyKing



Saturday 1st September 2012

DEBBI MACK, is the New York Times ebook bestselling author of the Sam McRae mystery series, featuring lawyer/sleuth Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae. She's also had several short stories published, including one nominated in 2010 for a Derringer. A “recovering attorney,” Debbi has also worked as a journalist, librarian and freelance writer/researcher. You can read more about Debbi and her books on her Web site. She also has five blogs, including My Life on the Mid-List, and you can find her on Twitter and Facebook.
Vist Debbi at www.debbimack.com                                               And on Twitter    @debbimack



Sunday 2nd September 2012

SUSAN CONDON, is a native of Dublin, who began writing poetry and short stories in 2008. Writing awards include first prize in the Bealtaine SDCC and CWC SCC City of Dublin VEC Short Story Competitions in 2010; highly commended in Ireland’s Own Prose Competition and www.fivestopstory.com in 2011, and she has just been long-listed in the RTÉ Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2012.

Publications include South of the County: New Myths and Tales in 2010, Senior Times and The Echo in 2011 and InTallaght and www.fivestopstory.com in 2012.

A member of Platform One Writer’s Group, Rua Red, Susan is currently completing her first novel – a crime fiction thriller set in New York.

Visit Susan at  http://susancondon.wordpress.com                      And on Twitter @SusanCondon



Monday 3rd September 2012
ALISON WELLS, is a writer of flash fiction, short stories and novels, and mother of four from Bray, Co. Wicklow. She has worked as a technical writer and has degrees in Psychology and      Communication Studies. Her short fiction has appeared in the Sunday Tribune, Crannóg, The View from Here, Metazen and in many anthologies including the Higgs Boson, Voices of        Angels, and UK National Flash Fiction Day’s Jawbreakers. She has been shortlisted for Hennessy New Irish Writing and for the Bridport, WOW, and Fish Award. This year she won the Big Book of Hope Ebook fiction category with her flash fiction medley Flashes of Entropy and Hope and was awarded a writing residency in Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry to work on The Exhibit of Held Breaths. Another literary novel is ready for submission. She blogs for writing.ie and  on Head above Water www.alisonwells.wordpress.com. Alison has published a space comedy novel Housewife with a Half-LIfe and a mini short collection including Stories to read on the Train.    

Visit Alison at www.alisonwells.wordpress.com                        And on Twitter @AlisonWells


 


Tuesday 4th September 2012

VALERIE SIRR, has had short fiction and flash fiction widely published (Ireland, UK, US, Australia and Asia). Some poems are forthcoming in anthologies from Revival Press, Ireland. Awards include 2007 Hennessy New Irish Writer Award, two Arts Council of Ireland bursaries and other national and international literature prizes, most recently a flash fiction award (2011) from The New Writer Magazine (UK), judged by Catherine Smith, British poet and writer. Valerie’s flash fiction appears on the National Flash Fiction Day 2012(UK) website.

She holds an M. Phil in Creative Writing from Trinity College,Dublin. She teaches creative writing, and she hopes to find a publisher for her flash and story collections soon and is working on a novel.

Visit Valerie at http://www.valeriesirr.wordpress.com/                        And on Twitter@ValerieSirr




Wednesday 5th September 2012
   
NIAMH BAGNELL, ran a 4-page newspaper for a few months in 1985: it cost 20p per issue and was a big hit with the neighbours. Her long-awaited return to writing came in mid-2007, when she joined Lucan Writers Group (meeting, among other talented people, the lovely Louise Phillips). Published in several poetry magazines, and the Stinging Fly. 

She hosted a writing based radio show on Liffey Sound for 1.5 years before giving it all up to move away to hide in the wilderness...  Her blog is variouscushions.blogspot.com which she updates when baby, work, and other circumstances allow...
Visit Niamh at http://variouscushions.blogspot.ie                        And on Twitter @variouscushions




Thursday 6th September 2012

TRIONA WALSH, is a writer of short stories and poetry (and a couple of novels that live in her desk drawer.) Her writing has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies -  Poetry Bus 1 & 3, Petals on a Bough anthology, Caught in Amber anthology, Kay's Book anthology, Flavours of Home, Petals on a Bough, South of the County - New Myths and Tales.

And she has been lucky enough to have had some success in competition, in particular - Winner in the NWA Awards 2008, Winner of the Jonathan Swift Award 2008, Short listed Jonathan Swift 2009 Shortlisted Kay McDonnell Short Story competition 2009, Shortlisted Malahide Library Centenary Short Story competition 2010. Her ambition is to write the next great Irish novel, but she'll settle for just getting out of the slush pile.

Visit Triona at http://trionawalsh.blogspot.ie/                            And on Twitter     @DomesticOub


Friday 7th September 2012

DEREK FLYNN, is an Irish writer and musician, with a First Class Honours degree in English Literature. He’s been published in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, and was First Runner-Up in the 2011 J. G. Farrell Award for Best Novel-In-Progress. He released his debut album, “Do You Dream At All?” earlier this year. His writing/music blog – ‘Rant, with Occasional Music’ – can be found here: http://derekflynn.wordpress.com and on Twitter, he can be found here: http://twitter.com/#!/derekf03


 

Saturday 8th September 2012

ETHEL ROHAN, is the author of Hard to Say and Cut Through the Bone, the latter longlisted for The Story Prize. Her work has or will appear in World Literature Today, Tin House Online, The Irish Times, The Rumpus, Post Road Magazine, and The Los Angeles Review, among many others.

She earned her MFA in fiction from Mills College, California. Raised in Ireland, Ethel Rohan now lives in San Francisco where she is a member of the Writers Grotto.

Visit Ethel at www.ethelrohan.com
http://ethelrohan.tumblr.com                                                       And on Twitter @ethelrohan



Sunday 9th September 2012


NIAMH BOYCE, was awarded the Hennessy XO New Irish Writer of the Year 2012 for her poem Kitty. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the Francis McManus Short Story competition 2011, the Hennessy Literary Awards 2010 and the Molly Keane Award 2010.

Her novel ‘The Herbalist’ will be published by Penguin in 2013. She blogs at http://niamhboyce.blogspot.com.

Visit Niamh at http://niamhboyce.blogspot.com                            And on twitter    @niamhboyce

 

Monday 10th September 2012

LAURENCE O'BRYAN, studied English and history, then business, and IT at Oxford University. He spent ten years working in the City of London, the creaking hub of world finance. He was first published by a school newspaper when he was ten, for a short story about aliens getting lost. The Istanbul Puzzle is his first novel published. It is part of a three book contract with Harper Collins. It will be translated into 9 languages and be published in about 15 countries, and in 2007, he won the Outstanding Novel Submitted award at the Southern California writer's conference.
He is a member of the UK Crime Writer's Association, the Society of Authors, the Irish Writing Centre, two "live" writing groups in Dublin and online writing communities in England and the States. His research has taken me all over the world, from San Francisco to deep in the Arab world. And he still enjoy looking at the stars and listening to the stories of strangers.

Visit Laurence at http://lpobryan.com/ And on Twitter at @LPOBryan




Tuesday 11th September 2012
CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD, is a writer and blogger from Cork, Ireland. Following the success of her self-published travel memoir, Mousetrapped: A Year and A Bit in Orlando, Florida, Catherine went onto self-publish Backpacked: A Reluctant Trip Across Central America and Self-Printed: The Sane Person's Guide to Self-Publishing. She shares her pragmatic, caffeine-infused self-publishing advice at www.catherineryanhoward.com, and currently divides her time between her desk and the sofa.

Visit Catherine at www.catherineryanhoward.com                     And on Twitter @cathryanhoward



Wednesday 12th September 2012

Caren Kennedy is the creator of a television series currently in development with Warner Bros TV, co-author of Fake Alibis (BenBella Books, 2009), careers columnist with Life Times, guest blogger with www.writing.ie, and a screenwriting consultant with The Inkwell Group. Her articles and essays have appeared in local, national and international publications and beyond. She is currently represented in the US by Vamnation Entertainment and Triada US Literary Agency.

Caren can be contacted in a variety of ways:
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/CarenKennedy
Blogs:  http://carenkennedywrites.blogspot.ie                 http://writing.ie/guest-blogs/word-play.html






Thursday 13th September 2012

JOE MC COUBREY, is a former Irish newspaper editor who is now a full-time action thriller writer. In the early seventies he was working in the Civil Service based at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Government, and was watching behind the scenes as some of the country’s most momentous events unfolded. These were the early dark days of the ‘troubles’ – events that reverberated around the world, and somehow served to push him towards his real passion of writing. He became a newspaperman, started his own media business, and took a front row seat as history was played out in Ireland.

His short action story Death By Licence has just been published by Master Koda Select Publishing. His debut full-length thriller Someone Has To Pay is being released on September 3rd 2012. A second full-length actioner is at the editing stages, and work has started on an Irish crime thriller.

You can visit him at: http://joemccoubrey.com/




Friday 14th September 2012

 




BRIAN KIRK, is a poet and prose writer from Clondalkin, Dublin. He has been shortlisted for various awards in recent years including Hennessy Awards in 2008 and 2011. He was twice shortlisted for RTE’s PJ O’Connor Award for radio drama. His stories and poems have appeared in the Sunday Tribune, Southword, Abridged, The Stony Thursday Book, Crannog, Revival, Boyne Berries, Wordlegs, Cancan, Bare Hands Poetry, The First Cut and various anthologies. You can visit Brian at    http://briankirkwriter.com/



Sunday, August 26, 2012

One Week to go......(kinda!)




Dublin Mountains by day


It's a beautiful morning here in Dublin, and I can hear the familiar sound of early birdsong. Our dog, a golden retriever is already lying upside down in the sun, scary really how human he believes he is! Not a chance of him getting a suntan with low temperatures and a thick woolly coat, but sure he's Irish, so he's forever optimistic:)

The rest of the house is asleep, and after a very busy week, my mind too is settling down. Yes, there are tons of things for me to do, lots to get organised, from creating book marks, to writing pieces, but you know, sometimes we all just gotta stop and breathe a little - think quietly about what it's all about.

On the 3rd September, RED RIBBONS will be in the shops - hard to comprehend really, as I'm still getting over seeing it on my bookshelf at home. Lots of people have confirmed they will be at the launch on the 5th, which will be in Hughes & Hughes St Stephen's Green SC (6.30). If you do intend going to the launch, you can pick up a copy there, and yours truly will sign every one of them - after all I'm supposed to be a writer!

I am nervous about speaking, (I always am), and no, I haven't written down what I am going to say, but I will. And, I remind myself, that I will be surrounded by friends, some of which I may never have actually met, but who are giving me the greatest compliment of all, by being willing to read the words I've put down on the page.

If you pick up a copy of RED RIBBONS, and you do find it has some good qualities, well spread the word. Even in today's world of major media advertising, social media, more streams of communication than any of us would have thought possible twenty years ago - by far the best way to encourage others to read books, is word of mouth. 

Yesterday, Declan Burke did a piece in the Herald about RED RIBBONS, and there is a link to it in a blog post below, along with an image of the Dublin mountains at night where some of the novel is set.

I hope you like the picture from this morning, which is all bright, sunny and beautiful.

Have a lovely week folks.

Thanks and take care.

xx

Louise



Saturday, August 25, 2012

Her dark materials...

 

Louise Phillips got inside the minds of crime experts for her debut novel about murder in the Dublin mountains, she tells Declan Burke.....

 
The Dublin Mountains at night
 
 
 
READ Article from The Herald HERE

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Novel Madness - The Journey goes on......

Well the DNA festival reading went down a treat, and I had my very own copy of Red Ribbons to read from!! How exciting is that?

Spoiled for choice as to which part of the 115,000 words I would choose from, I went for the killer's voice!

Feedback afterwards was amazing, and the general consensus was the killer was very scary, and so too was my voice. Obviously I was taking this getting inside the head of the killer very seriously!!!

Other news, Red Ribbons, the 'Book Launch' got a mention in the Irish Times on Friday, Hughes & Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, on the 5th September 6.30.

The novel also got a mention in Liberidi Scrivere, courtesy of the lovely Brian Mc Gilloway - read short but sweet segment here  

And Crime Fiction Lover has also featured the chilling pre-release trailer on Red Ribbons, on their website here (scroll down to find introduction on the story of Red Ribbons etc, etc, etc...

You can also find another link to the trailer on The Red Line Book Festival 2012 here - have a look around when you visit as there are lots of things happening at the festival, brilliant writers, and also yours truly will be reading at The Loose End theatre at the Civic.

Last thing on the trailer, I heard on Friday that book selling giants like Hughes & Hughes, Dubray, Easons etc will be featuring the fab trailer too - so before the rest of the world calls to visit, have a sneaking look and add your comments to the trailer HERE

But the biggest news of all is......the books have arrived into the publishers at long last - which also means they are making their way to a lovely shop near you!!

Publication September 3rd 2012


Now I thought I would be emotional the moment I finally held the novel in my hand, and I was, I was over the moon with excitement. I kept rubbing my hand up and down on the cover, I looked at it from a distance, from close up, I placed it down on table, feeling it had a whole life all of it's own, but the real emotion came later, the same way that sometimes life can take you by surprise.

The real joy was seeing my very own book on my very own bookshelf at home. And, because you all know how I love to share, here's another little pic for YOU!!!



Just in case none of this got you particularly excited - Watch out for redesign of blog, and launch of new WEBSITE in the next few days!!!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

RED RIBBONS Preview Book Trailer




Enjoy!!!

And don't forget RED RIBBONS book launch will be at Hughes & Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dublin 2 @ 6.30 Wednesday 5th September 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A Writer at the Top of His Game!


Well, if you don't believe me, here's what the crime master Lee Child had to say about Declan Burke ...


 "Everything you could want - action, suspense, character and setting. All floats on the easy lyricism of a fine writer on the top of his game." Lee Child


And the great news is, the launch of Declan's Burke latest book, SLAUGHTER'S HOUND will be happening - drum roll please on ......


Wednesday, August 22nd at 6.30 p.m.
launch of
SLAUGHTER’S HOUND
Hodges Figgis, Dawson Street,
Dublin 2.


And just to spoil you even more, next week on www.writing.ie, I get to chat with Declan - the man who knows more about Irish crime fiction, well than blinking anyone ......

So, here's a little bit more about Declan, ....



Declan Burke has published four novels: Eight Ball Boogie (2003), The Big O (2007),Absolute Zero Cool (2011) and Slaughter’s Hound (2012). Absolute Zero Cool was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards, and received the Goldsboro / Crimefest‘Last Laugh’ Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel in 2012. He also is the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (2011),and the co-editor, with John Connolly, of Books to Die For (2012). He hosts a website dedicated to Irish crime fiction called Crime Always Pays.



Sunday, August 12, 2012

DNA Festival 2012


So don't miss out on a great lineup of writers reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event as part of the DNA (Discover New Arts) Festival 2012 at the Axis Centre in Ballymun on Friday, August 17th @ 6.30 pm, are listed below.....
(There will also be a tiny play performance called 'Shoes' - Entry is free and all are welcome)

Writers' Circle Readers:

Marion O’Neill, originally from Limerick but now living in Kilkenny, has published three novels : Miss Harrie Elliott (1999), Daddy’s Girl (2001) and Seeforge (2005). Her latest novel ‘All God’s Dead’ is due to be published by New Island in August.

Louise Phillips has been published as part of many anthologies and literary journals. She has been a winner of the Jonathan Swift Award, a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice Platform and shortlisted for the Molly Keane Memorial Award and Bridport UK. Louise’s psychological crime novel, Red Ribbons, will be published by Hachette Books Ireland in September 2012, and her second novel, The Doll’s House, will be published in 2013.

Stephen Buck
has produced 16 radio plays, written and directed a play for Red Kettle Theatre Company, was shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story competition and has regularly featured on ‘The Quiet Corner’ on Lyric FM.

Niamh Boyce was awarded the Hennessy XO New Irish Writer of the Year 2012 for her poem Kitty. She has been shortlisted for the Francis MacManus Short Story competition 2011, the Hennessy Literary Awards 2010, the Molly Keane Award 2010 and the WOW Award 2010. Her fiction and poetry have been published in many literary magazines. Her novel ‘The Herbalist’ will be published by Penguin in 2013.

Darren Donohue, following an invitation onto the New Playwrights Programme at The Abbey Theatre in 2010, has been shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award and has founded Pandora Theatre Company, a professional theatre and outreach company based in Kilkenny. He has written a number of successful full length and Tiny Plays, some of which have recently been performed in The Abbey and the Sean O’Casey theatre, with his tiny play 'Tuesday Evening' selected to run as part of Fishamble’s “Tiny Plays for Ireland” project.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Novel Madness!!



It's hard to know where to start when a week feels a lifetime and then something which happened over a week ago feels like it only happened a second before!

On Monday it will be three weeks to publication day and still a part of me hasn't taken it all in, a part not quite believing the publication of my first novel is actually happening.

My head is busy yes, thinking about plans for the launch night which will be happen on the 5th September, the knowledge that actual copies of Red Ribbons will arrive late next week at the publishers, and that for the very first time I'll hold my own novel in my hand - something I never thought possible.

A small number of people have read the manuscript at this point, and so far the feedback has been amazing, but yet I'm filled with anxiety, self-doubt, all those demons that can hold you back from ever writing in the first place. We all experience them I know, it's part of what makes us who we are, and hopefully in the long run better at what we do.

I'm still in the zone whereby if someone tells me they absolutely loved Red Ribbons, I want to absolutely love them back, and I hope that part never changes. Hopefully there will be a lot of love!!

But I'm also trying to prepare for the negatives, and part of that preparation will be taking myself aside and giving myself a good talking to before any of this becomes totally real. I honestly can't predict how I will feel, and again I know this is something others have gone through - but there is no denying it's a tough part.

On the news front, there's a trailer going out mid next week which I will let you all know about, and I really hope you like it, and it gives you a flavour of the novel. Trailers are somewhat new to book promotion, but for me it has been a hugely positive experience.

I've been working on a new website too, which I think is going to be amazing, and I'm hoping you'll agree when you see it. My ambition for the site was that it would be an enjoyable experience to move within it, more pleasure than hard work, and be a fair reflection of what my novel, and future novels will be about. The blog will be incorporated into it too, so it won't feel like you're switching from one site to the next, but rather that the website is very much alive and not some stale thing that doesn't change for months on end.

Next Friday the 17th August, I'll be reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event at the Axis Centre in Ballymun @  6.30 pm - part of the DNA festival. Entry is free and all are welcome! So come along.

The Launch Night is set for the 5th September, at Hughes and Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, again @ 6.30 The utterly brilliant Niamh O'Connor (True Crime Editor of the Sunday World) will be launching the night, Hughes & Hughes have been fantastic, and I can't thank them enough.

Digi-posters of the novel will be on display at all their stores from this weekend onwards, and they've posted an exclusive interview with yours truly in their VIP ezine this week as well.

If you're on facebook, you can join the Launch Party HERE, or you can email me at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com and I'll put your name on the list - I have visions that the night will be a re-run of my 21st, when I had a heart attack that no one would turn up, and again, I know I need to give myself a good talking to, and to say, Louise, calm down, enjoy the experience and know that this is going to be a very special moment, because it will be a turning point in your life.

So join the launch night HERE, contact me by email if you have any queries, or on Twitter @LouiseMPhillips, and again thanks so much for all your support!!!


Friday, August 3, 2012

Thank YOU!

So we are nearly there folks. One month to go, one month to publication day.

I got to thinking, that it might be a good time to stop and say 'Thank You'.

In the acknowledgments for Red Ribbons, my opening words are -

'The creation of a novel is a journey which begins well before the first word is written and continues long after the last full stop. I owe a huge debt of thanks to many people.... '

And these words ring true for me, not just today, or when Red Ribbons is finally published, or ten years from now when hopefully I will have written many others stories - these words have been true from the moment I was introduced to books, to the joy of living in an  imaginary world, and will last hopefully for a very long time to come.

I openly admit that I am nervous, excited, unsure, a mix of so many different emotions, but whether Red Ribbons is a success or not, the journey so far has been a success for me.

I have gotten to know a great many people along the way, some here on this blog, and on Twitter.  I have made some lifelong friends, and the experience has been an emotional roller coaster, with many moments of joy, uncertainty, frustration, laughter, doubt, belief, the list is endless, but what has never been in any doubt, is that the journey has been enriched by all the people who have supported me along the way, thankfully another very long list, and one that I really appreciate.

Some of you who follow this blog might remember a post I did a while back - it was about a friend of mine, the late, Joan O Flynn. My life was enriched for Joan being in it. She will stay with me always, and apart from being an amazing woman, writer, and friend, she had great belief in me.  We all need friends like Joan, people who believe in us even when we doubt ourselves.

So no matter how the next leg in this journey goes, today, and every bit of the journey so far has been an absolute pleasure, and this wouldn't have been the case without you. So THANK YOU.


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Thomas Enger - PIERCED

‘I’ll tell you who killed your son if you clear my name.’


I could talk for a very long time about Norweigan,Thomas Enger’s latest book, Pierced, but instead, I’m going to give you a quote from the back of the novel – ‘Pierced is a stunning, emotionally charged slice of Nordic Noir’ – and that my friends, sums it up exactly.

So, here is a brief introduction to the novel, and then we can get up close and deadly with the writer himself when he spoke to me for writing.ie, about the inspiration behind the creation of this fantastic second novel in the Henning Juul series.




If you find out who set me up, I’ll tell you what happened the day your son died. That is the message crime reporter Henning Juul, back at work after being terribly burned and scarred for life in a fire that killed his son, receives from a jailed extortionist named Tore Pulli who’s been convicted for a murder he claims he didn’t commit. Truth has never meant more for Henning Juul. And when Pulli is found dead in his prison cell—an apparent suicide—Juul decides to dig deeper. He knows the murders Pulli was convicted of do not bear his signature, and he’s convinced that Pulli would never have taken his own life. Striking up a fragile partnership with Iver Gundersen, a journalist now living with Juul’s ex-wife, Juul uncovers an internal power struggle in the gang world, where the desire for serious money is destroying the traditional, honour-based hierarchy. Uncovering more questions than answers, Henning soon realizes that he has to find not one but several killers . . . ruthless murderers who have never been more dangerous than they are now.




When I met international bestselling author, Thomas Enger, moments after he arrived in Dublin, the first thing I wanted to ask him about was the brilliant character Henning Juul. Henning is a man scarred physically and mentally, a man in pursuit of the truth behind the fire which killed his son. Was he, I asked Enger, one of those characters who came almost fully formed to the page?

Thomas Enger told me, ‘He was instantly present in my head, he was almost like a voice saying this is a character you have to write and his name is Henning Juul – you have to write him. It was such a strong impression, and when I started writing him, I had spent six months planning out what I wanted to do with my character, writing the very first chapter of the very first book, it instantly felt like, yes, this is his voice. When I wrote Pierced, a lot of Henning’s character had been established in the first novel, and it was a matter of sustaining this while not repeating information unnecessarily, but it is always difficult with a series, and it is even more apparent now writing the third novel, deciding how much of the earlier elements to put in, and leave out.’

If you pick up a copy of Pierced, and I strongly recommend you do, like me you might be intrigued by the relationship between Henning and Iver Gundersen, the journalist now living with Juul’s ex-wife, Nora.......

READ MORE over at Crime Scene HERE 
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