The Manhattan Puzzle
The Manhattan Puzzle is about what one woman does when her husband doesn't come home. Ok, this is Isabel Ryan and her husband Sean and herself have been involved in adventures in Istanbul and Jerusalem, but she still feels all the pain and uncertainty and anger that any woman feels when their partner goes missing.
Isabel goes all out to find him and ends up at the headquarters of a major international bank in Manhattan. The bank is about to go bust. Then she sees Sean in a crowded elevator as its doors close.
The Manhattan Puzzle is about one woman fighting back to protect her family. It's also the next episode in the Puzzle series. It has strong violence from the start, including an opening scene where one woman takes some very bloody and sexual revenge on a senior official of that bank on the edge.
If you love strong women, the ones who fight back, this will be for you.
This is your third novel so please can you tell us a little bit about the other two?
The Istanbul Puzzle started the series. In it Isabel is working in the British Consulate in Istanbul. She meets Sean Ryan when he comes to the city to identify the body of a colleague, who's been decapitated. They flee his hotel together and end up flying to Iraq and then to London, where the novel ends with a huge demonstration outside St Paul's, as Islamists try to make London their's, while others plot to murder every one of them.
The Jerusalem Puzzle continues the story following Sean and Isabel to Jerusalem and then to a riot torn Cairo in search of a British academic who has been kidnapped. Isabel is in very real danger in The Jerusalem Puzzle, from a man who burns his own hand for pleasure, and in the end she has to comfort someone close to death.
Why did you decide to set the book in New York?
I've always loved New York, and especially Manhattan Island. It reminds me of a snow globe when I visit, a city caught in memory. I also wanted to write a novel featuring some of the iconic places in Manhattan, a skyscraper, a 5th Avenue apartment, Grand Central. These places feature in so many movies. I thoroughly enjoyed weaving a story around them.
The book contains a lot of historical detail, so tell us about your research process into the book.
I read a lot about the history of Manhattan. There's a huge amount online these days too. I also visited the city twice in the last few years. I took all the photos of Grand Central and Lexington Avenue and the diner at the back of the book. I visited because I wanted to make sure I got the smells and the feel right. And some parts of Manhattan do have their own unique smells, like the oldest lower platforms of Grand Central. There was a cinnamon smell in the air when I was there, although I was lucky the terminal police service didn't arrest me for going down empty platforms to see what was at the end of them!
The Istanbul Puzzle was shortlisted for the Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish book awards so how did this make you feel?
It was wonderful to be shortlisted. It's a humbling and unforgettable moment, and that's not even from winning! It was a great night too. Except for when I knocked over a bottle of wine as they read out the winners!
Please tell us about your first short story published in your school newspaper.
I write that when I was eleven. We started a school newspaper and I volunteered to write a story. It was about aliens getting lost when they came to earth and a small boy helping them. The spelling was awful, but it is the only thing I kept from those years in school.
You attended a writing workshop and were offered a writing contract for three books, so please can you expand on this for us.
Harper Collins were running a one day workshop at their offices in Hammersmith. I attended and met a Harper Collins editor who asked me to email her what I was working on. I had been writing for ten years and had won a prize for The Istanbul Puzzle, but it still hadn't been published. Two months later I was offered a three novel contract. I have never experienced such a rush of elation. This was the moment I had always wanted and had feared would never happen.
You studied business and IT at Oxford University, so at what point did you know you wanted to write?
I studied business studies, then IT to ensure I could support myself. But I always had the idea in the back of my mind that I would write novels. Crazy really, but it's true. I took up writing properly in 2000, writing almost every day after that. I wanted a change from the emptiness I had experienced working ten to twelve hour days in IT in London. I certainly found it. But it did not come easy. For years I woke at four AM to get some writing done before going to work.
Who are your favourite crime reads?
In the last year I've enjoyed Gene Kerrigan's, The Rage, Sam Hawken's, The Dead Women of Juarez, and Jar City, by Arnaldur Indridason.
What is next for you?
I am writing The Nuremberg Puzzle right now. I can't tell you much about it. But I will say this. What images does the word Nuremberg bring up in your mind? I do hope you enjoy The Manhattan Puzzle. There are many scenes which subvert the clichéd and over-used plot device of violence being done to women in crime novels and TV series. So I wonder what people and reviewers will make of it. I expect there will be some controversy over how bloody some scenes are and about who carries them out.