Archive
The Jerusalem Puzzle gets interesting
I am right in the middle of editing The Jerusalem Puzzle. At present Sean and Isabel are in Cairo and there’s a lot going on.
One of the challenges for a contemporary mystery writer, who writes about such places as Jerusalem and Cairo, is that so much is in flux in these cities. Sure, I follow Egyptian newspapers and Israeli newspapers, and I have linked to one of each for you, their English language versions, and I read books and articles (see my reading list here on Goodreads), but glimpsing where these countries might be in 12 to 24 months is a real challenge.
There are deep pressures at work, some of which I witnessed when I visited the Palestinian territories, the Negev and Jerusalem earlier this year.
Driving towards the Sinai Peninsula February 2012
Some of the other considerations I must keep in mind are the religious views of the people in these countries and the right wing shifts, the violence and the polarisation taking place in many European countries.
I see my role as a storyteller, someone who reports what happens to people caught up in a serious escalation in this area.
I see the good and the evil and the impact of forces almost beyond our control.
I hope you will enjoy Sean and Isabel’s story as it unfolds in Jerusalem and Cairo.
Please wish me luck in the next few weeks as I finish my final personal edit of The Jerusalem Puzzle. After that Harper Collins will conduct a deep edit and I will be back to the manuscript again in July to work on it.
I wish you all the best with whatever you are working on and thank you for following the story of The Jerusalem Puzzle as it unfolds.
The Jerusalem Puzzle takes a big step forward
Last Friday I finished draft one and two of The Jerusalem Puzzle. I call it one and two because I go back every day and edit what I wrote the previous day.
The Jerusalem Puzzle is written!
On Monday I started on the next edit. I plan to have it finished by mid May, when I will send it to Harper Collins.
I was pleased that both yesterday and the day before I was able to do my target of editing ten pages a day. This means, for me, that it’s fairly smooth already. That doesn’t mean to say that there won’t be changes and suggestions from Harper Collin’s editors, but it’s a lot smoother than The Istanbul Puzzle was at this stage.
I guess writing day after day, year after year is finally paying off.
As for the novel, I like it, if I’m allowed to say that. The main mysteries that were held over from The Istanbul Puzzle, what’s in that book they found, for instance, are solved in The Jerusalem Puzzle. Someone at the heart of the story dies too, but I can’t tell you any more about that.
It’s set mainly in Jerusalem, with some chapters in Cairo and the Judaean Hills. It’s about contemporary Israel too, with the very real threat of war hanging over the country, a threat that comes alive during the novel.
The Jerusalem Puzzle is due for release January 17, 2013. There may be an early chapter released at Christmas by Harper Collins.
I hope you enjoy it when it comes out. Next month, May, I will be sending an outline to the next in the series to Harper Collins. Once that is agreed I will tell you the title. We might also have the cover of The Jerusalem Puzzle to show you around then.
Thanks for all your feedback and support. I truly appreciate it.
