Foreshore has snapped up Catherine Jansen-Ridings’ The Shame Child, a historical, romance novel and the first book of a planned trilogy about the Viking invasions of Ireland from the Celtic women’s point of view. The Shame Child will debut with the RiverRun imprint of Foreshore in autumn this year. Ridings is a director, playwright and screenwriter whose work includes the teen drama short film Josh and Lil and plays Astonishing Light, Dark Immortal and Gin Sisters. The Shame Child is set in a remote Celtic island community haunted by past Viking raids, and tells the story of a young woman grappling with trauma and a fractured relationship with her daughter. Foreshore publisher-in-chief Phil M. Shirley describes The Shame Child as “a literary début of enormous scale that is thrilling, compulsive and with global appeal” “While on a pilgrimage to a windswept Irish island, Catherine was fascinated by the presence of Viking graves, and began to delve into her mixed Irish and Scandinavian DNA, imagining an origin story that grew to be The Shame Child. “The target audience is women everywhere, and readers should brace themselves. The depth and layers and characterisation are extraordinary. The Shame Child is without question one of the best debut novels I have ever read and I just know that it is going to become a runaway bestseller.” Catherine Jansen-Ridings started her career as an actor and began writing plays to perform. Stand-up comedy, street theatre, and children’s TV followed, but she wrote through it all. She raised a family, studying for a Creative Writing degree from Middlesex University and home-educating her children. When the chicks flew the nest, she began writing plays for Chickenshed Theatre and wrote and directed her first short film, Josh & Lil. She lives in North London with her husband of forty years, actor Richard Ridings Photo c/o Samuel Nicholls@ https://www.theupcoming.co.uk
The English writer talks about the inspiration behind his novel, Blue-blooded Murder – the literary sequel to the 1949 Ealing Studios film Kind Hearts and Coronets. When considering the pantheon of British cinema and literature, certain figures tend to dominate the collective consciousness, yet others remain comparatively underrated. Robert Hamer, an accomplished filmmaker whose oeuvre is perhaps crowned by Kind Hearts and Coronets, is seldom invoked outside aficionado circles. Similarly, Roy Horniman, the author of the novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, which served as the basis for Hamer’s film, is largely overlooked in mainstream narratives. Yet, what unites these two creators is their contribution to a darkly satirical exploration of class, morality, and individual ambition. Horniman’s novel, with its nuanced, witty and intelligent exploration of criminal psychology and societal critique, deserves recognition as foundational within the psychological crime tradition. Blue-blooded Murder extends this legacy, serving as a literary sequel that further interrogates the dark intersections of class, morality, and identity—an inspired homage to Horniman’s pioneering vision. “I read Horniman’s Israel Rank (on which the film’s screenplay is based) but, after that, found only repeated viewings of that gem of a film could be at all satisfying,” says Stuart. “I wanted more and then, at a time (2017) that I was toying with the idea of writing a crime novel with a ‘perfect murder’, it struck me that I could kill two birds with one stone by picking up the unresolved ending of the film where the serial killer Louis Mazzini, now Duke of Chalfont, has a final murder in mind: that of either his new wife Edith, or his mistress, Sibella.” Stuart describes Blue-blooded Murder as a homage to the film and, as such, the novel attempts to be true to those of the characters who reappear as well as echoing some of the incidents and scenes that like-minded fans will recognise. An exception is that of the eight characters played by the renowned English actor Alec Guinness. “Unfortunately, due to Mazzini’s successful culling of the d’Ascoyne family, there was no place for the masterful Guinness characterisation,” Stuart says. “But, as an alternative, other major characters do go in for a variety of colourful disguises. “As far as possible I wanted to keep the tone of the book a match to that of the screenplay of the film: amusing and sophisticated on the surface while dark deeds are being prosecuted. I also wanted the ‘perfect murder’ aspect to be as credible as could be and the plot to be fast-paced to satisfy the demands of the reader of the genre in the 21st century. Above all, I aimed for entertainment.” Tony Stuart has previously published Regarding The World (2000), a simplistic introduction to epistemology for 6th formers, and Writing Lines (2016), a collection of the picaresque escapades of a biology teacher at the fictional institution, Sixokes School. He keeps no pets but does have two children and a wife. He lives quietly in Kent. Tony Stuart’s novel Blue-blooded Murder will be published by RiverRun, an imprint of Foreshore Publishing, in paperback in May 2025. ON SALE: May 16th. Available now for pre-order.
The Inbetweeners meets Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, D.R. Fenner and Jacqueline Haigh’s debut comedy crime is based on true events and the Dutch crime duo Johannes Mieremet and Sam Klepper. An accountant at a successful London bank and his two best mates throw themselves into an Amsterdam adventure – but their antics disrupt the lives of the city’s two most notorious gangsters; Spic and Span are named after the ruthlessly efficient means taken to dispose of their victims. ‘Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth, it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.’ Sweat beaded on Ando’s forehead then meandered down his cheeks in rivulets. The cold muzzle of the gun pushed against his left temple so hard it hurt. Holding the weapon was a neatly suited, clean-shaven Dutchman with greased-back, dark brown hair. His shark-like eyes glistened. Meanwhile, his accomplice, a heavy-set guy with a pugnacious face, stood across the room grinning. Spic and Span never sent henchmen to do their dirty work. They viewed this as their vocation – it wasn’t just about making money. It was a matter of reputation. ‘Well now,’ the gunman said, waving his pistol calmly. ‘That’s interesting because my good friend Mr Beretta here says you’ll do exactly as you’re told.’ Span stretched up to his full height of six foot three. Ando looked across the room, to where his friend, Dickie stared in horror at the second gangster, who was even taller, and roughly the same distance across the shoulders. An archetypal hatchet man, he looked the type you could run over with a tank, and he’d get up and smile at you. Dickie was squirming, hunched in his chair in a way which accentuated his double chin. Ando knew that expression only too well. Dickie was doing the face he always did when trying not to soil his pants, which he would no doubt blame on his gastric issues if they got out of here alive. Dickie’s wide-eyed countenance caught the attention of Spic, whose forehead creased into a frown. ‘You like me, pretty boy?’ He sneered. ‘Should I bend you over and make you my bitch?’ ‘Err… no,’ quivered Dickie. ‘Then stop eyeing me up.’ Dickie lowered his eyes and fixed them on the gangster’s shiny, wing-tip shoes. Ando glanced over at his other friend, Hoppa, hovering further to his right. Strangely, despite the fraught situation, Hoppa looked relaxed, almost a smirking. How does he do that? Ando thought. No wonder he’s so good at poker. Over the years, Ando had heard about the colourful characters that Hoppa knew, so it was unlikely to be the first time he’d seen someone threatened with a gun. But even so… Unfortunately, the gangster holding the gun to Ando’s head was not so impressed by Hoppa’s laid-back manner. ‘Is something funny, clever boy?’ ‘No, no, nothing.’ Hoppa kept a straight face. ‘You think I’m comical?’ Span yelled. ‘You think I’m a fucking clown?’ ‘No,’ Hoppa persisted. God, he’s good, Ando thought. But, of course, it was a red rag to the Dutch bull. ‘You think you English can fuck with me?’ Span turned and away from Ando, spraying saliva in Hoppa’s direction as he spoke. ‘No.’ ‘Smile again, and I shoot your dick off. Got it?’ Span aimed his handgun at Hoppa’s groin, then twisted his neck, making it crack. His eyes became even more sadistic. Spic was terrifying, but Span took it to another level. He liked to get in people’s heads, to hear them scream. The things Spic had watched his comrade do would make most grown men weep. ‘Please, guys,’ Ando pleaded. ‘We’re not trying to fuck with you. This was all a stupid mistake.’ Span turned back towards Ando, removed a silencer from his pocket and screwed it onto the end of his gun. Ando’s imagination kicked into overdrive. He pictured the bullet exploding through his skull and exiting behind his right ear, scattering shards of bone into the cerebral cortex, back toward the basal ganglia, and down into the thalamus as his brains blew out all over the wall. Over-analysis even at a time like this. He thought. As the tip of the pistol pressed back on his sweaty forehead, a strange sensation flooded over him. Time slowed. The commotion around him faded away. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a last glimpse of his two best mates as they looked on in horror. ‘You know,’ Span said, ‘some religions think dying is like being born. I like that. An ending, a new beginning, who knows?’ ‘I’m not religious!’ Ando blurted. His voice was shrill. He didn’t know where the words had come from. It was as if they just erupted from his mouth. ‘That’s OK,’ Span said, smiling softly. ‘Just pick a God and pray.’ Behind his closed eyes, Ando heard the sound of the weapon being cocked and waited for his moment. Would it hurt? Would he feel it? He never thought that his time on Earth would end like this, in a soulless hotel room in Amsterdam… This is an edited extract from Double Dutch set for publication with the RiverRun imprint of Foreshore in summer 2025. D.R. FENNER is a novelist who lives with his wife and three young children on the northern beaches in Sydney. JACQUELINE HAIGH is a scriptwriter, story consultant and performer. She has over twenty years of experience as a writer and stand-up comic and has written books and scripts for film, TV, stage and radio. Feature graphic by Eliezer Muller on Unsplash
