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Coming up with the title is not my strongest point and my books have different titles in the UK and the US, which makes it even trickier. Left to my own devices, poison and/or peacocks would feature in the title, since they’re central to the story – how it begins, develops and ends. However, I appreciate the title has to work in its territory.
I was asked by the publisher to submit suggestions and among my offerings was A Poisonous Affair in the Countryside. Killing in the Countryside was their preference. It’s not easy, I think, to find something that captures the quirky, slightly eccentric British core of the book for American readers.
The fictional town of Heft is a strange little corner of the Yorkshire Dales, in the habit of wrong-footing the local law enforcement, Sergeant Ali Wren and her springer spaniel partner, Officer Wilson. I hope the character of the place and its people somehow comes across.
In its favour, the title is...[read on]
Writers Read: Maria Malone (August 2025).
Writers Read: Maria Malone.
Q&A with Maria Malone.
--Marshal Zeringue
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