I spent the best part of five years hopping to and from Amsterdam from 2012 onwards writing a series of books featuring Pieter Vos, a rather eccentric detective living a bohemian life in a canalboat on the Prinsengracht. Read more…
The series was my follow-on to The Killing books but came up against another Amsterdam book my UK publisher had paid a fortune for. So you can guess which one of us got all the publicity and marketing support. The Vos series in English is, however, now back in my hands and available as revised e-book and print editions exclusively on Amazon worldwide. Plus there’s an omnibus e-book edition of all four titles too. Here they are in order…
The House of Dolls, the first in the series, sees Vos out of the police, lost, struggling with the fact his daughter’s missing, presumed dead, in a mystery connected with a doll’s house in the Rijksmuseum. Then another girl vanishes in similar circumstances and Vos finds himself drawn back into the case.
In The Wrong Girl, the second in the series, Vos and his young partner Laura Bakker are drawn into the search for the daughter of an immigrant woman working the sex district, snatched by mistake by terrorists looking for the child of a government worker. Set during the arrival of Sinterklaas, a popular event that sees Amsterdam crowded with visitors.
The third book in the series, Little Sister, sees Vos and Bakker go beyond Amsterdam, into countryside around Volendam, a fishing village with a background in rock music. Two sisters, thought to have murdered a musician who abused them, have gone missing and are assumed to be a danger to the public. But perhaps they are more victims than perpetrators after all.
In the fourth book, Vos’s beloved terrier is dognapped by a mysterious figure who seems to want Vos to investigate a series of attacks on woman, crimes that are thought to have been solved. But as Vos and Bakker start to investigate mysterious happenings at the famous Albert Cuyp market they begin to realise the case everyone thought solved is far from closed.
It’s thirty years since I first entered the crazy world of authordom and there have been a good few books along the way. Inevitably, that means titles readers still want to find fall by the wayside over time. Some of my more popular titles from the past are currently unavailable due to the expiry of rights and other issues.
Well, here’s some good news. A bunch of my biggest hits from the past three decades are coming back. First, two Venice titles with new introductions in which I talk about their genesis and what they mean to me now.
Lucifer’s Shadow, first released in 2000 and later republished in the UK as The Cemetery of Secrets, was the first book I wrote set in Italy. A twin-era tale embracing the Venice of Vivaldi and Canaletto, both of whom make cameo appearances, coupled with a ‘modern’ story set in what was then the present day — the Venice of the 1990s, somewhat different to now. As I explain in the new introduction to this edition, Lucifer was an eye opener for me on many fronts and led to the long obsession I’ve had with Italy since.
Carnival for the Dead, released ten years later,is a standalone novel featuring one of the most popular characters from the Costa series, the forthright pathologist Teresa Lupo. In this solo outing Teresa finds herself in a chilly Venice during Carnival, searching for her lost aunt, Sofia, and encountering a very odd mystery: a series of linked short stories featuring her and Sofia which appear to give a clue to her aunt’s fate. If you liked The Medici Murders and The Borgia Portrait, then this tale, with its mix of mystery and history, is very much in the same vein. Again, I’ve written a new introduction about the book’s genesis.
Both Lucifer’s Shadow and Carnival for the Dead will be priced at £2.99 or equivalent in e-book. Lucifer’s Shadow is available now for pre-order with release this Thursday, September 7. The print editions, priced at £10.99 and £9.99 respectively, are ready now. The e-book of Carnival for the Dead should go live shortly.
On September 21, the four books that form my Pieter Vos series set in Amsterdam — The House of Dolls, The Wrong Girl, Little Sister and Sleep Baby Sleep — will all become available on Amazon in e-book and can be pre-ordered today. The print versions are available now. On the 21st, the entire series will appear as an e-book box set.
The Vos books are the titles I wrote directly after working on the three-book novel adaptations of The Killing TV series in Copenhagen. They’re in the same vein — dark, city-based stories, set in Amsterdam locations I took great pains to research (not that it was a pain), notably the Jordaan, with a cast of very local characters.
But that’s not all, as the shopping channels say. I’m delighted to be able to announce that Severn/Canongate, which already publishes the first three Nic Costa titles and the last, The Savage Shore, have now acquired the remaining six books in the series which will reappear with new covers and a new life in paperback and e-book next Spring. Watch this space for more details. It will be heartening to have all the Costa titles under the same English language publishing imprint worldwide for the first time.
Happily, none of this affects the audiobooks of all these titles which remain available through all the usual channels, and through the same audio publisher, WF Howes, who’ve been with me for most of the past three decades. You can get all these titles, the Venice books, Vos and the Costa series, on audio right now.
Tchéky Karyo as Baptiste in the TV series. But what was the case that made him, forty years earlier?
France, 1976.
Julien Baptiste is a young, smart but inexperienced detective, sent to work in Clermiers, a small town in northern France riddled with corruption. A girl goes missing, presumed dead after bloody clothes are found close to an illicit party near an abandoned chateau. Baptiste believes he’s nailed the culprit, the eccentric Gilles Mailloux.
When he appears in court, the public call for the guillotine – and that’s the sentence Mailloux gets. But as Mailloux awaits an appeal for clemency, he asks to see Baptiste, who’s still haunted by the fact the girl’s body remains missing. As the clock ticks towards execution hour, Baptiste begins to realise he may have made a terrible mistake…
Ten years ago I was adapting The Killing , turning a stunning TV series into books that were based on the telly dramas, but not quite the same. I loved that challenge, and I know lots of readers around the world did too.
And today… I’m delighted to be able to tell you about the secret project I’ve been working on all year. Not an adaptation of an existing TV series, but a quite unique take on an equally unique character from the screen.
Back in December last year I got a call out of the blue from Sam Eades of Orion. How would I like to come up with an original novel featuring Julien Baptiste, the French detective from The Missing and his own eponymous TV series? But not the Baptiste we know. A Julien Baptiste forty years younger, facing the case that would go to make the character we saw on screen played so memorably by Tchéky Karyo? A prequel built from scratch, mine to pluck out of thin air.
Who’s going to say no to an offer like that?
I spent some time reading about the France of the 1970s, making the shocking discovery that the last man went to the guillotine in 1977. Then I sat down and over a few days tapped out the rough outline for a story in which a young Julien Baptiste is responsible for the capture of a man later convicted of the abduction and murder of a young girl. To Baptiste’s dismay, he’s condemned not to life imprisonment, but to the guillotine. On the day he’s due to die he asks to see Baptiste. They talk… and our earnest young detective begins to realise he may be sending an innocent man to the scaffold.
Every story needs a ‘what if?’ and there’s the one behind Baptiste: The Blade Must Fall. It will be out from Orion in paperback, ebook and audio (narrated by Tchéky himself) this November. If you’re lucky enough to be at the Theakstons Crime Festival in Harrogate next week you should find the opening chapter there for you to read (and yes I’ll happily sign the samplers as well as my Italian books from Canongate which should be there too).
I’ll have more to say about this book in the months ahead so stay tuned. And before anyone asks … no, this does not mean I’m abandoning Italy for France. It’s an added bonus for me after the launch of The Borgia Portrait on August 1 and the earlier release of The Medici Murders in paperback.
Here’s the official press release…
Orion acquires official prequel to hit TV series Baptiste
Orion Fiction Publisher Sam Eades has acquired an official prequel novel to the hit TV series Baptiste, written by award-winning crime writer David Hewson. The thriller follows iconic French detective Julien Baptiste as a young man in rural France, grappling with a shocking missing person case that will shape him into the man viewers know and love from the television series. Baptiste: The Blade Must Fall will be published in paperback, ebook and audio in November 2023.
From Two Brothers Pictures The Missing and Baptiste are award-winning global television brands with proven longevity. The Missing has been licensed in 144 countries, and the opening series had over 7 million viewers. The Missing won the Golden Nymph Award for Best Mini-Series and Best Drama or One-Off Serial at the Televisual Bulldog Award. The spin-off series Baptiste has been licensed in 132 countries, with global sales to Amazon, Netflix, Starz and Disney.
In Baptiste: The Blade Must Fall, Julien Baptiste is an intelligent but somewhat naive detective, sent to work in Clermiers, a town filled with corruption. A girl goes missing, presumed dead after bloody clothes are found close to an illicit party near an abandoned chateau. Baptiste believes he’s nailed the culprit, the eccentric Gilles Mailloux. When he appears in court, the public call for the guillotine – and that’s the sentence Lellouche gets. But as Mailloux awaits an appeal for clemency, he asks to see Baptiste, who’s still haunted by the fact the girl’s body remains missing. As the clock ticks towards execution hour, Baptiste begins to realise he may have made a terrible mistake…
David Hewson, author said: ‘Julien Baptiste is as fascinating and enigmatic a character from TV drama as Sarah Lund from The Killing. The Blade Must Fall is an equally exciting challenge – to portray Baptiste in an entirely new story of my own, set forty years before he became the obsessive pursuer of the missing we’ve met, exploring the case that made him who he was. At a time when capital punishment is still in place in France, Baptiste is called to the cell of a condemned prisoner, Gilles Mailloux , on the day he’s due to face the guillotine. Only to begin to suspect he caught the wrong man after all.’
Sam Eades, publisher said: ‘As a viewer gripped by “The Missing” and “Baptiste” I wanted to know more about the enigmatic French detective Julien Baptiste. I’m thrilled to be working with David Hewson, Jack Williams and Harry Williams to continue his story. The Missing and Baptiste have been licensed in over 130 countries, and we see this novel as a major publishing event across the world.’
Harry and Jack Williams from Two Brothers Pictures said: ‘When we created The Missing we were blown away by the love for never-quite-retired investigator Julien Baptiste, a character who viewers instantly took into their hearts. We are thrilled than Baptiste will have a new life in fiction, written with such insight and skill by David Hewson and narrated in audio by Tchéky Karyo.’
About the author David Hewson is a former journalist with The Times, the Sunday Times and the Independent. He is the author of more than twenty-five novels including his Rome-based Nic Costa series, which has been published in fifteen languages, and the Arnold Clover mysteries set in Venice. He has also written three acclaimed adaptations of the Danish TV series The Killing.
About Two Brothers Pictures Two Brothers Pictures was set up by BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated writer and producers Harry and Jack Williams in 2014. With the aim of producing quality scripted television in the UK and internationally, Two Brothers Pictures has quickly become one of the most exciting and successful production companies in the UK. The London based independent, which joined the All3Media family in February 2017, has produced some of TVs best loved shows including Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Emmy winning, modern cult classic, Fleabag (for BBC Three and Amazon), much talked about drama Liar (ITV), and the hugely successful Baptiste (BBC One) both written by Harry and Jack Williams Focussing on original contemporary stories, the company also produced The Widow starring Kate Beckinsale (ITV and Amazon), ratings hit drama Cheat (ITV), ambitious international drama series Strangers (ITV and Amazon) and Daisy Haggard’s “darkly comic gem”, Back To Life (BBC One) for a second series and their outback Thriller The Tourist (BBC One, HBO Max, Stan & ZDF) starring Jamie Dornan has been a huge hit internationally.
Many thanks to my publisher in German, Folio, for this beautiful edition of Garten der Engel which is out today. It really is one of the loveliest hardbacks I’ve ever had.
And thanks too for the company in Venice for our media event last week. Fingers crossed the tale of Paolo and Nico Uccello will strike a chord with German and Austrian readers.
