Good news from Bloomsbury today - Ruso’s Editor has just emailed to say: ‘Persona Non Grata is up and running on kindle at last!’
Sorry about the outage. It was caused by a formatting problem, and some clever person who knows what that means has fixed it.
… or rather, NOT on Kindle at the moment due to a technical hitch. Apologies to anyone who’s tried to download it in the last few days. The folk at Bloomsbury are on the case, and it’ll be back very soon.
Many thanks to Sandy and Vicky, who got in touch to ask where it was.
A blessing upon: the good folk of Lancashire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire, who apparently borrowed more Ruso books from their libraries than anyone else in the UK in 2008-9. This isn’t really a fair comparison, since I got the figures from the PLR (Public Lending Right) website and they only include the sample libraries chosen for that year. But thank you anyway. I hope you enjoyed them.
A curse upon: the gremlins who seem to have invaded the British distribution of ’Ruso and the Demented Doctor’ and ‘Ruso and the Root of All Evils’. There are a few copies in a box under the desk here, so if Santa needs one urgently and the local bookshop can’t oblige, please get in touch - see below.
A warning: the gremlins have also struck the email system. I would blame the snow (since it’s being blamed for everything else) but we haven’t had any. Anyway, if you’ve made contact recently and not had an answer, please try again. To outwit the gremlins, use the ‘comment’ option below, and if it’s really just intended for me, put ‘not for the blog’ on it.
The smiling chap is the excellent Tony Kesten, a fellow-excavator at Whitehall Roman Villa. Tony happens to be a friend of the librarian at Monticello, NY, and managed to pull off a publicity double-act last week by giving copies of all three Ruso books to the library and having himself photographed with them while modelling this year’s Whitehall teeshirt.
Now that’s what I call enterprising. Meanwhile, some of us were hard at work back in the trenches.
"You mean I was supposed to find something down here?"
Last week while I was enjoying a fine lunch arranged by the good folk at Penguin to celebrate the publication of ‘Ruso and the Root of All Evils’, it dawned on me that it would be nice to share the fun.
Leftover lunch didn’t seem like much of an offer, and I wondered if anyone would like the chance of a free book instead. So… signed copies will go to the first two readers whose names come out of the hat and who have correctly answered the not-terribly- taxing questions below.
You don’t need to have read the book yet (that would be pointless, really, wouldn’t it?). All the answers are in the research photos you can find either here on the blog or, for a closer look, under the Photos tab on the Ruso and Tilla Facebook page.
I. Which emperor is the gate named after?
II. Where is the amphitheatre that features in the story?
III. What is the name of the gladiator on the tombstone?
Answers via the box below*, please, by the end of Wednesday 12 May.
(Anyone anywhere is welcome to enter. Winners in the US or Canada will get the American edition, ‘Persona non Grata’, so you won’t have to wince at the spellings.)
*13 May - now removed - it’s too late!
Following the more-or-less successful foray into slideshows (see below) I’ve finally plucked up the courage to venture onto Facebook. Or rather, Ruso and Tilla have. (They don’t anticipate Twittering any day soon, though. They have more urgent things to do and their author has no plans to inflict the spectacular tedium of her daily life on anyone else.)
Do stroll across to Facebook if you’d like a closer look at the slideshow pictures, though*, and to see the lovely silhouette of a Roman re-enactor and his partner, photographed by my friend Jen Bewick at Hadrian’s Wall.
* for those who haven’t tackled Facebook before, click on the ‘Photos’ tab when you get there. No doubt this was obvious to everyone except me.
To mark the launch of ‘Ruso and the Root of All Evils’ next week, there’s a slideshow of some of my favourite research photos here. Anyone who’s read Ruso and Tilla’s third adventure may recognise a few of the locations…
This is a new adventure in technology, so I really hope it works.
At last! Advance copies of the British edition of Ruso’s third adventure have just arrived at Downie Towers. (It’s published as Persona non Grata in the USA.) Penguin have done a fine job with it, as ever. It’s in paperback and should hit the bookshops towards the end of April.
There’s more information and reviews on this page, but in the meantime here’s a shot of the cover, followed by the blurb from the back:
“Gaius Petreius Ruso, doctor to the Legions, is about to return home to Gaul after many years’ absence. Little does he realise the letter summoning him back has been forged, or that the sunny Mediterranean lifestyle conceals dark threats lurking at every corner. His family are in horrific debt to dangerous men and when the principal creditor, Severus, is poisoned in the Ruso home, they become the primary suspects in his murder.
“But the crimes go far deeper. What role did Severus play in the deliberate sinking of a cargo ship? Who are the brutal investigators sent by Rome? And how worrying is the outbreak of new religion, Christianity, in the neighbourhood?
“When Ruso takes a job stitching up gladiators in the local amphitheatre, matters come to a head. He’s literally in the lion’s den and even Tilla, his loyal servant, may not be able to save him from the clutches of a most devious murderer…”
At last! Thanks to Randy for the good news that Ruso and Tilla’s third adventure is now available for US listeners to download from Audible.com
The publishers Tantor also have it on CD. I’d like to think it’s also in All Good Bookshops, but possibly it’s only in selected Very Excellent ones.
(Apologies to anyone who can’t access items from American websites, to whom this is no use at all. ‘Ruso and the Root of All Evils’ will be out in the UK next spring and, partly due to snail’s pace at which I seem to be writing Book Four, publication dates WILL be better synchronised in future.)
Several people have kindly asked if there’s going to be a recording of ‘Persona Non Grata’ and the embarrassing answer is… I don’t know.
Sorry to be so vague. The person who does know is on holiday at the moment, but as soon as there’s any news it will appear here.
UPDATE, 27 July - The Person Who Knows is now back from holiday. Looks as tho’ things are happening, so with luck there will be something definite sorted out soon.
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