Roberta Rich joins us on the Ebury Blog on the last day of her UK blog tour.  Follow the rest of the tour at the websites below:  

 I remember being at a writers’ conference one year, practically in tears as an editor from California talked about how difficult, nay impossible, it was to get published.

I stumbled tearfully from the lecture room with the distinct impression that there was not a publisher left standing either in Europe or North America. Moreover no one was reading anymore, never mind actually buying books. And if, on the off chance that a few lonely souls were- maybe 5 wheat farmers in Manitoba, this select group certainly wouldn’t want to read anything I had written.

It reminded me of the statistic I used to read years ago which stated that a divorced woman over forty years old had as much chance of re-marrying as she did of being hijacked by Islamic fundamentalists wearing kilts.

I kept on plugging because I like to write. I have been writing my whole life. I wrote 1.5 mysteries, and 1/8 of a romance. The mysteries were about a quirky divorce lawyer who practiced law in Vancouver, Canada and ran off to Mexico to pursue a client. As it happened I was at that time  a quirky divorce lawyer practicing in Vancouver. I thought it would sell. It was funny and had a good  protagonist. Even though it had a great title―a gift from my husband an excellent title ―Tequila Moon, it didn’t sell.

I thought you were supposed to write what you know. All my writing teachers said so. I was mightily disheartened. And then I found my genre.

In June of 2007 my husband and I were in Venice, on a walking tour from the Rialto Bridge. We ended up in the Jewish Ghetto which I confess I had never heard of. Our wonderful guide explained that the ghetto was established in 1516. I looked around the rather spartan campo, and the tall, dark, knife sharp buildings, holding each other up.  and something clicked in my head.

The only way I can think of to explain what happened is to digress for a moment and tell the following story:

Years ago I was at a Border collie/sheep herding event on Saltspring Island, B.C. After the event I was talking to a shepherdess about her her Border collie. The shepherd told me she found Mitzi, at the local pound- the dog had been through several homes and was surrendered because she was too unruly, too wild, had too much energy. The shepherdess said to me, “I put Mitzi  in a pasture with a couple of sheep to try her out. Mitzi had never seen a sheep before as far as I knew, never been in a pasture, had never even been in the country before. I watched her drop into a crouch, give those sheep that long spooky collie stare.  I could see the wheels turn in Mitzi’s head and  the tumblers click into place. Mitzi was thinking, ‘ Now I get it. This is what I am destined to do in this world. I will be good at it. ‘

That’s the way I felt standing in the campo, vast open space, surrounded by tall rickety buildings, wondering how people had been born and died and had sex, and cooked and went to the bathroom. I, who had not cracked a history book since high school, thought ‘I can write about this’.

I started and the more I read about the history of the Venetian ghetto the more I fascinated I became. If I was intrigued readers would be as well. I talked to a friend of mine who teaches Early Modern history about my idea for birthing spoons, I talked to a another woman who was a midwife. And little by little, The Midwife of Venice was born. 

I wrote the first draft in seven months and sent it to my agent, in November of 2008. She wrote back saying, ‘don’t you read the news? Publishing companies are folding, editors being laid off. Nobody reads anything anymore.’

Of course, her message was couched in more polite language. She added, ‘I am busy. If you don’t hear from me, email me in six weeks and maybe I will have read your manuscript.’

So I went into the 2009 new year, crestfallen. Stumbled through a new years party, I was giving in Mexico, trying to keep my spirits up in the time honoured ways, drinking too much and persecuting my husband and friends. Then a few days later, January 3rd,  2009 my agent wrote, to say she loved the manuscript, loved the story and was going to send it out even though the market was lousy. I crossed my fingers and waited. Three weeks later, her email arrived― ‘Bingo’ read the caption. She had sold it to Random House Canada and my future as an historical novelist was born.

The Midwife of Venice jumped onto the Globe & Mail best seller list the week after it came out. Unheard of. Overwhelmingly, wonderful. I heard from all my friends and family and there were parties, and events, and book signings and I was suddenly famous. Not famous like Phillipa Gregory, J.K. Rowling or Lady Gaga but famous, at least in my little neck of the woods.

Oh, and by the way, I was a divorced woman over forty and I did re-marry.

 The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich is out now.

It was the only question that came up in every conversation I had this year with other crime writers, agents, publishing people and crime readers. As it happened, I was going, but I had no idea what to expect, or why everyone else was so excited. I said yes, maybe I’ll see you there, nodded politely and wondered if it was just the fact of getting away from the solitary author + computer lifestyle that was the great attraction. I doubted it could live up to the hype.

And I was dead wrong. If anything, they underplayed it.

For those who don’t know, the proper name for the event is the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, and a festival is what it is – a celebration of crime writing. Held in the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, a gracious establishment that has been linked with crime since Agatha Christie ‘disappeared’ there in 1926, it is small-scale only in that you pass by the biggest names in crime writing in the corridor, and can easily get chatting to your favourite author as you wait at the bar. This year, those who spoke included Lee Child (who lived up to his reputation as the nicest man in crime fiction), Martina Cole, Tess Gerritsen, Linwood Barclay, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham among many others. In keeping with the festival’s relaxed atmosphere, they were most forthcoming about their work, their inspiration, their lives before they became famous, and even came perilously close to answering the odd question about their sex lives. It was well worth paying attention…

In between talks, the crowd of literary types and readers surged into the open air to take advantage of the weak summer sun when it appeared, and to scout for big names (thick on the ground). This year Twitter was a big help – tweeting anything with #theakstonscrime as a tag generated an avalanche of queries of ‘are you in the bar? Let’s meet up!’

Late-night events were too entertaining to miss, but a nine o’clock start could be hard work – and late-comers were not admitted. The pace was relentless, between talks and drinks and dinners and celebratory lunches and the odd restorative cuppa. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that when the Ebury team took refuge in the world-famous Betty’s Tea Room, we tripped over Val McDermid who was also taking tea. Nor should I have been gobsmacked to spot Martina Cole having dinner with her publishers in the same restaurant where Ebury were hosting a dinner with my fellow-author Katia Lief, Dame Jenni Murray, Laura Wilson and me. That’s just how Harrogate is.

After four days of being immersed in all things criminal, it was difficult to come to terms with the real world again. It was a fascinating long weekend, a true insight into other writers and their work, but most of all it was fun. And on the way back, there was only one question to ask.

‘Where will we stay next year?’

Jane Casey, author of The Missing, The Burning and The Reckoning with editorial director Gillian and deputy publicity director Caroline

One never knows quite what to expect when one is asked to speak at a writing conference. Over the years I’ve attended huge US conferences where rumours abound of editors having submissions thrust under bathroom stalls. (This never happened to me - though I once had an aspiring author pitch a paranormal romance at me in a swimming pool in Dallas!)

The Fifth Annual Verulam ‘Get Writing’ conference at the University of Hertfordshire was an all together more civilised affair - albeit more rainy. It’s run with military precision by Jenny Barden and her team and every year has managed to attract a variety of interesting speakers. (This year’s guests included WHSmiths buyer Matt Bates, chick lit writer Sarah Duncan and TV presenter turned writer Sue Cook, as well as a host of agents and editors.) And it’s a mere half hour from Kings Cross even if I was never entirely sure where I was. (Near St Albans apparantly!)

The most challenging aspect of the day was the topic of the speech itself. My first thought when Jenny said ‘Beyond the Revolution’ - was ‘Which revolution?’. (Which may reflect a diet of too many historical novels perhaps!) My second thought - when I realised that she meant ‘beyond the digital revolution - was well, that’s going to be a short speech!

Luckily I was going to be part of a publishing panel and my fellow panelists - Marlene Johnson, Publisher for Hachette Children’s and Simon Taylor from Transworld - and I convened ahead of the conference to come up with a plan.

We decided to keep it brief, keep it positive and throw the discussion open to the audience as quickly as possible. (And who knows we might even learn something along the way!) So armed with some facts and figures from Ben and Luthfa* , we three editors met up an hour before the panel to compare notes. Simon and I discovered that we pretty much had the same figures (though 800% growth year on year in eBooks was a good enough figure to repeat.) and had both at least heard about the recently launched Asda £52 E-reader. (Though I had the Times article to hand that compared it as a cross between an MP3 Player and an Etch-A-Sketch.) We wisely cut a swathe through our prepared material and decided to make the panel session as interactive as possible.

A lively discussion ensued, chaired expertly by Marlene. We’d predicted much of the topics that came up - and some that didn’t. (Marlene had been volunteered by Simon and I to tackle any difficult agency model questions. No one asked, but Marlene didn’t let that stop her from answering anyway!)

Some of the more interesting moments of the session were realising just how many of our very digital savvy audience now had access to either dedicated ereaders or tablets like the ipad and were regularly buying ebooks. There also came the interesting suggestion from one of the delegates that Waterstones should also sell e-editions in store for those who like to browse real shelves before buying a digital edition of a book. And at one point I outed my hitherto secret habit of buying certain vampire fiction in ebook form so that no one knew I was reading it! What I also took away was just how passionate the conference delegates were for the written word, no matter in what form it was delivered to them.

My afternoon ended with a a quick round of what the conference likes to call ‘Super Pitches’ where writers get the chance to pitch their books in five minutes to an agent or editor. It felt like the editorial equivalent of speed dating. Though I was impressed with all the pitches - not least by the lady who managed to tell me the entire plot of her lush sounding epic novel (large cast of characters, two continents, spannning thirty odd years) without appearing to draw breath! Time will tell how my ‘dates’ turn out…

Gillian - Fiction Editorial Director

(*I’d like to thank Luthfa especially for the ‘no one knows anything’ gem which was going to be my fallback position should any difficult questions arise!)

You Are Next is a brilliantly creepy thriller and we have had a lot of fun getting people excited about the book. Here’s our journey to publication day…

To build excitement within the book trade we sent out a creepy box of dominoes with You Are Next scrawled on the back (thanks to my trusty Tippex pen). The dominoes relate to the serial killer in the book who leaves dominoes as numerical clues as to his next victim. Creepy…

Then we sent out these colour changing mugs, which are still the envy of Ebury staff if you happen to get to the kitchen first.

But it’s not all mugs and dominoes, we are also doing some serious marketing things like a tube advertising campaign.

And then to kick publication day off yesterday we had a team going round the London tube network reading excerpts from the book to unsuspecting tube travellers and handing out copies of the book. Oh and Ebury decided to leave the building for a bit of guerilla marketing ourselves…

Try a sample chapter here. It will have you on the edge of your seat.

Have you read it yet? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Clare - Senior Marketing Executive

Immodesty Blaize’s second book, Ambition, was published in October and to celebrate we sent some spectacular showgirls out into central London. Did you catch a glimpse of them? If not, we’ve got some great pictures of the activity below…

Read an extract from Ambition

Watch Immodesty read from Ambition

Read a Q&A with Harry Dolan, author of Bad Things Happen, the book James Patterson calls “a smart, well-written roller coaster ride” and Stephen King describes as a “Great f***ing book”.

What was the inspiration for Bad Things Happen?

I had the idea of writing about a character with a dark past, whose background is hinted at throughout the story, but never fully revealed until the end. And that became David Loogan, the protagonist of Bad Things Happen – a solitary, secretive man who is gradually drawn out of his isolation when he befriends Tom Kristoll, the publisher of the crime-fiction magazine Gray Streets. So the characters came first, and the rest of the story grew around them. Tom Kristoll’s death is what drives the plot of the novel, but it’s only one of the central mysteries of the book; the other is the mystery of Loogan himself – who he is, what happened to him, and how his past has shaped him.

You have a very smart, funny dead-pan writing style but who makes you laugh?

Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais – all the usual suspects. In terms of novelists, I always liked Gregory Mcdonald, whose Fletch novels are driven by sharp, witty dialogue. The same goes for a lot of Lawrence Block’s books. Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy made me laugh all the way through. I also like to go back to Mark Twain every once in a while, especially his Letters from the Earth and his essay on Fenimore Cooper’s literary offenses.

Bad Things Happen has a great plot with lots of unexpected twists, did you know how it would all end when you started out? Are you a planner when it comes to your writing?

I know there are writers who can jump right into a book with only the barest idea of where it’s going, but I’m not one of them. I spent a lot of time working out the major turning points of the plot – and especially the scenes leading up to the climax – before I set down even a single sentence of the opening chapter. That doesn’t mean I had every detail worked out in advance, of course – just the key points. You always discover things as you go along. Characters take on larger roles than you originally envisioned. Elizabeth Waishkey, the detective who investigates Tom Kristoll’s murder, was always meant to be a significant character, but her part in the novel grew in ways that I never anticipated, so that she quickly emerged as Loogan’s equal. She carries long stretches of the narrative, and the relationship she develops with Loogan turns out to be a centerpiece of the novel.

David Loogan’s boss asks him to bury a body, what’s the worst thing a boss has ever asked you to do?

Nothing as bad as that, fortunately. A long time ago I used to have to get up at five in the morning to deliver newspapers, and if you put enough of those things in a canvas bag, it starts to feel like you’re hauling around a body. But since then the jobs I’ve had have involved editing academic books and journals. The worst anyone’s asked me to do has been to work on a dull manuscript or meet an unreasonable deadline.

Which classic novel have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

I’ve had a copy of Melville’s Moby-Dick on my shelf for years, and I’ve never gotten past the first chapter. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m too impatient for the whale to make an appearance. I have, however, read Frederick Busch’s The Night Inspector, which features Melville as a character. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?

What are your top five books of all time?

The Lord of the Rings is a book I grew up with. I’ve read it many times, and as a teenager, when I thought about being a writer, I imagined I would write fantasy novels like Tolkien. I was also a fan of science fiction, especially the work of Robert Heinlein. I think Time Enough for Love is one of his best; Lazarus Long is a marvelous character. In college I read all of Raymond Chandler’s novels; The Long Goodbye is probably my favorite. Bad Things Happen owes a debt to that book, not in terms of the plot but in terms of the fact that there’s a friendship at the heart of the story, the friendship between David Loogan and Tom Kristoll. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was an unforgettable experience; I didn’t discover it until my early thirties. Finally, if I’m allowed a quirky choice, I would add Bradley Denton’s Blackburn, a serial-killer novel that blew me away when I read it. I don’t think it’s as widely known as it deserves to be.

What book are you currently reading?

I recently finished Robert Rotenberg’s Old City Hall, a very well done legal thriller set in Toronto with a multi-ethnic cast of characters. Currently I’m in the middle of Dennis Lehane’s A Drink Before the War. Somehow I managed to miss out on Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro novels when they first came out, and I’m trying to remedy that now.

Do you have a favourite time of day to write? A favourite place?

I’d like to have a more intriguing answer for this, but the truth is I do all my writing in a spare bedroom at home, which I’ve converted to an office. I usually write in the afternoon or evening, sitting in a leather club chair with my laptop. Theoretically I could take the laptop anywhere, but I’ve tried writing in public places – cafés, for example – and it never seems to work for me. Too many distractions.

Which fictional character would you most like to meet?

A while back I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and I developed a sort of fascination with Lisbeth Salander. I’d want to meet her in a public place, though, and I’d be careful not to cross her.

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

I’m going to go with Shakespeare, the obvious choice. The Oxford edition of his collected works is a nice thick, hefty book. Good reading, and also very useful if you need to knock a man over the head as a prelude to tossing him out a window.

Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?

If I could go back and start over, I think I’d like to work on films. Not writing them or directing them, but working behind the scenes on the production and the post-production. Set design, sound effects, visual effects, film editing – I’m fascinated by all that stuff. I like watching documentaries about how it’s done, and I think it would be interesting and challenging work.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m writing a follow-up to Bad Things Happen, set in Ann Arbor and featuring the same two central characters, David Loogan and Elizabeth Waishkey. The tentative title is Very Bad Men. I can tell you it involves a political candidate, a tabloid reporter, and the fallout from a fifteen-year-old bank robbery. There’s also a rather odd killer, who suffers from synesthesia and may be insane. That’s all I can give away for the moment…

Read an extract

Watch the trailer for Bad Things Happen

In a strange way publication has felt like getting married all over again, except in reverse order. First came the reception – at which the bride (ie me) went against convention by wearing black with red shoes – with that dreamlike experience of bringing together people from very different parts of your life and seeing that they do, amazingly, all get on. Then, next day, the big event. I got ready and made my way to Waterstones and Hatchards in Piccadilly, feeling just as breathless as I did on my way to my wedding. And lo and behold, the book was there, waiting for me! A week on, my head is still spinning – but in a good way, not like in the Exorcist.

Finding Monsieur Right – a book about the very, very good things that can happen to you when you move to a strange country – shuttles between Paris and London and tells the story of two heroines, English Daisy and French Isabelle. I remember very clearly how it all started, one day that I found myself in a fairly advanced state of pregnancy and incapable of doing any real work. I was daydreaming and for some reason an image lodged itself in my head. There was a girl in a designer ball-gown stuck on the roof of the Paris Opera House – she had been locked out. That was all I knew. So I sat down to write in order to try and work out how events had conspired to put her on to that very cold roof.

At this stage, the whole thing felt like a problem-solving exercise. I was sketching out lines of flight – who? where? why? what? It was a fairly detached pursuit – something to stop my brain from grinding down completely. And then, after a few weeks’ writing, I suddenly found myself crying actual tears at my desk – because a French boy I had made up was being mean to one of my heroines. I knew then that a line had been crossed. Yes – I know I was pregnant, and those friends who have known me longest might say ‘But she cries at anything’ and they would be right, but this was something else. I’d become sucked in by the story I had invented – a strange feeling.

As to what happened afterwards, it was really down to my husband the critic first of all, because he read the thing and thought it was OK, and convinced me to look for an agent, which I did. Enter the fantastic Teresa Chris, who, without even pausing to put down her amazing statement handbag, seized the manuscript with one hand, picked me up by the scruff of the neck with the other and propelled us expertly into the world of publishing. Then the doors of Ebury Press opened before me with a great blast of trumpets – I suddenly had an editor of my own, Gillian Green, who was more than happy to engage in lengthy discussions about the dos and don’ts of delivering a love letter or just how fast a girl could move from a first kiss to having clandestine sex in a cupboard. I’d found my people. And there is no sweeter feeling than that.

I’ve also been incredibly lucky with my improvised and fairly dishevelled focus group – the friends who took the time to read the book before it was published, and for some of them in manuscript form and before the jelly had quite set, so to speak. The funny thing is that I really believed, when I decided to write fiction, that I was taking myself out of the equation. As it turns out, it doesn’t really work like that, because thanks to my readers’ feedback about the book I also learned a couple of things about myself.

The first wave of reactions went something like: ‘Hey Muriel, there’s a lot about fashion in this! I was really surprised! I had no idea you knew about this stuff!’ To which my response was a relaxed: ‘What? Excuse me? What do you think all this is, huh? That’s from Marni, for a start!’ Then, while I was digesting this and managing to rise above it brilliantly (still only just a little bit twitchy) came the second wave of feedback – from those brave souls who spoke in praise of my carefully honed and never ever gratuitous sex scenes. There was the odd bout of embarrassment, as when a very outspoken girlfriend told me in no uncertain terms about the electrifying effect of the aforesaid sex scenes upon her married life. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say apart from a prolonged ‘Um’ sound, but really, it was so sweet of her to share this with me.

And then it occurred to me that nobody had said: ‘Hey Muriel, there’s a lot of pretty saucy sex in this! I was really surprised!’ So that was it – the great lesson in self-knowledge. The author of Finding Monsieur Right is perceived on the one hand as tragically unfashionable, but also, on the plus side (I guess…) as a blatantly obvious mouth-breathing pervert. I can cope with that for the sake of literature.

Muriel Zagha, Author of Finding Monsieur Right

Visit Muriel’s blog
Read a sample

‘Emma continued to entertain no doubt of her being in love. Her ideas only varied as to how much…’

Jane Austen’s Emma has delighted readers since it was first published in 1815, despite the fact that Austen thought she had created a heroine that ‘no-one but myself will much like’. Of course in a way she was right – Emma Woodhouse is pretty, rich, privileged and wants for nothing. In short, she’s faintly annoying. But this is what has always attracted readers to Emma more than any other Austen heroine – she is flawed but fun. Her acerbic humour and arch commentary on the society that surrounds her draws us in and means we are totally on her side by the time pride leads her to a fall… which of course it does…!

If you’ve been enjoying the new TV adaptation on Sunday nights (BBC1 at 9pm – we’re three weeks into the four-part series) you’ll be on tenterhooks to what happens next in the romantic fortunes of Highbury’s irrepressible matchmaker. Emma’s determination to find love for her friends has already backfired once, leaving her mortified and poor Harriet Smith inconsolable. Will the dashing Frank Churchill succeed where Mr Elton failed? And what is to become of Jane Fairfax? Tune in on Sunday for the next instalment…

In the meantime, try our quiz to find out which female character from Emma you’re most like! Are you the reserved but perhaps-not-so-demure Jane Fairfax? A supremely confident Augusta Elton? Find out in our quiz on Facebook.

To win one of five copies of our special tie-in edition, with an introduction by the BAFTA-winning screenwriter Sandy Welch, post your funniest matchmaking story on the blog – we’ll award copies to our five favourites!

Jenny - Press Officer

UPDATE: Thanks for posting so many hilarious stories! I’m pleased to announce that Emily is the winner of a brand new copy of Jane Austen’s Emma - after all, not only did she go to the cinema with the wrong man, she then spent the entire evening with him over dinner and only realised her mistake on the way home! Quite an achievement. Hope you enjoy the book!

Emily’s disastrous date:

I once agreed to go on a blind date with a friend of a friend. I’d arranged to meet him outside a cinema. I hadn’t thought to ask what he’d be wearing so when I spotted someone looking a bit lost and confused I tentatively asked them if they were looking for me. He smiled and said yes - phew! We watched the film, then he invited me out for a meal. I had a lovely time, he was the perfect gentleman. Then I realised I was late for my bus so I said I’d call him and dashed off.

While I was sat on the bus my phone rang. It was the friend who’d arranged it all for me, before I could thank her she said “Why did you stand him up?” After much confusion it turned out that my ‘date’ had been with a complete stranger, and the real date had arrived after I’d gone inside and was left standing outside waiting for me.

As the phone number I had was for the man I was supposed to be meeting and not my mystery date I couldn’t call him, and never did see him again!

Jennifer Hunter is an expert on men. So much so, that she’s actually made a living out of reading them. In The Good Girl’s Guide to Bad Men, Jennifer runs a professional Honey Trap agency where suspicious wives and girlfriends can test their loved ones for unfaithful tendencies. Obviously this job has given her some useful insight into the male psyche and what makes men tick. But these trade secrets shouldn’t only be used for honey trapping. Why not try a few on your own man to really get his heart racing?

Jennifer Hunter’s Top 5 Seduction Tips:

1) Know your target. Do a little research before you dive right in. Find out what he likes. What his fantasies are. If he’s interested in football, look into some facts about his favorite team and wow him your newfound knowledge. If he has a favorite vineyard, order a bottle of wine from there and surprise him with it.

2) Be Yourself…Only different. Guys love variety. So why not give him a taste of something new? If you’re normally the soft and feminine type, trying spicing things up with some naughty lingerie that he would never expect. Or if you’re normally a wild child, try a sweet and sexy negligee to show your softer side. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, so why not play on that side of the fence for a night?
3) Always Leave Them Wanting More. A honey trap is never allowed to let things go too far. It’s rule #1. Fortunately for you, you don’t have to play by those rules. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to make them wait a bit. Don’t let things go too fast. The trick to making him want you like never before is to make him think that he just might not get you. It drives men crazy. So tease a little. Give him a glimpse of that sexy lace bra you’ve got on, but then be sure to make him wait to see the rest. A few hours of that and he’ll be begging for you by the end of the night.
4) Maintain the Illusion. I don’t care if you’re married, dating or just flirting, guys appreciate the “illusion” of our perfection. They don’t want to know (or see) that it takes two hours for us to look this good or that just yesterday our legs were furrier than a sheep dog. They just want to reap the benefits. So for one night, keep the illusion alive. Be enigmatic. And mysterious. Don’t let him peek behind the curtain. Save the conversation about your last trip to the gynecologist for another day.
5) Lead the Way. Guys are turned on by women who take the lead and go after what they want. So tonight, be the merciless temptress. Take him on a wild ride. Show him just how crazy he makes you. Men can be insecure too and sometimes they get tired of being the “hunter.” So it’s always a nice ego boost for them to be hunted every once in a while.

Watch a trailer for The Good Girl’s Guide to Bad Men

Jessica Brody, author of The Good Girl’s Guide to Bad Men and The Fidelity Files

Jessica, Ebury Press and Figleaves.com have teamed up to offer one lucky reader a £500 shopping spree at Figleaves.com! Visit www.figleaves.com/goodgirl to find out how you could win.

And every reader can get 10% off their next Figleaves.com order! Just enter GOODGIRLS when you get to the checkout for your exclusive discount.*

*Offer valid until October 14th, 2009

I am on countdown this week. One day until The Runaway Wife hits the shops on the 17th, and five until I zip off to Peru with my mum to celebrate. (Actually, to make sure she doesn’t get swapped for a couple of llamas or something: she’s not safe out on her own.)

So there I was earlier tonight, about to start my course of anti-malarial tablets, and I thought, I’ll just read the instructions, why not, seeing as they’re there, and what do I discover? In a bid to protect myself from contracting some disgusting mosquito-borne disease, I am exposing myself to the risk of (deep breath): breathing problems, swelling of the face, lips, tongue or throat, an itchy rash, headaches, stomach upsets, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers, blurred eyesight, tinnitus, cardiomyopathy and hair loss. HAIR LOSS????? I only just got my highlights done LAST NIGHT, for goodness’ sake.

Anyway, if anyone happens to be in Heathrow’s Terminal 3 on 7th October when I’m due back and wants their copy of The Runaway Wife signed, I’ll be the bloated, wheezing bald bird trapped in the toilet, too blind to find the loo roll. Lovely.

Susy McPhee, author of The Runaway Wife