Three Chords And The Ruth

But lo! There’s more ... Yon Ruth Dudley Edwards is a versatile minx, and no mistake. Last year, Cuddly Dudley won the Last Laugh Award at Crimefest, for her comedy crime caper MURDERING AMERICANS. A couple of weeks back she published the true crime opus AFTERMATH: THE OMAGH BOMBING, which concerns itself with the families’ search for justice in the wake of the single most devastating atrocity in the long and bitter history of the Troubles. If the early word is anything to go by, the Crimefest award won’t be her last. To wit:

“It is a remarkable and moving story, told in masterly fashion by Ruth Dudley Edwards. Her narrative grips from the start. It is as compelling as a thriller and displays the sympathetic imagination of a great novel … This is an extraordinary and uplifting story of how a group of ordinary people managed to get the justice they sought. It is beautifully told.” – Allan Massie, The Scotsman

“THIS VITAL, powerful book tells a story of loss, resilience and terrorism … It rightly concentrates on victims, and on properly remembering the lives destroyed by terrorist atrocity. But it also recounts a remarkable story of victims’ resilience and vindication, and deserves to be very widely read.” – Richard English, Irish Times

  For more, clickety-click here …

MURDERING AMERICANS – Don’t Try This At Home

A Minister for Propaganda Elf writes: “Institutions are generally the kind of places where we tend to lock up those who say and do the kinds of things that polite and / or politically correct society frowns upon, so it gives us all kinds of pleasure to announce that Ruth ‘Cuddly’ Dudley Edwards (right), herself a venerable institution, albeit the kind that gives voice to the kinds of things that polite and / or politically correct society frowns upon, deservedly won the Last Laugh Award for MURDERING AMERICANS at the 2008 Bristol Crime Fest. Being not only in the running, but also in the blummin’ room, the Grand Vizier found himself in the very unusual position of deferring to a genius even more evil than his own, and was even further flummoxed when the dastardly Ms Edwards insisted on buying the celebratory drinks when she should really have been basking in our unanimous acclaim, not to mention a mist of champagne spray (the tone of the night was probably summed up by the Grand Vizier’s cohort, who leaned over when the announcement was made and said, “No luck, mate. Next time write a funnier fucking book, eh?”). Anyhoo, it’s electronic bouquets for Ms Edwards: it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer or funnier woman. But remember, folks – murdering Americans is only funny when Ruth Dudley Edwards does it, so don’t try this at home. Peace, out.”

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 1,072: Ruth Dudley Edwards

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...
What crime novel would you most like to have written?
Reginald Hill’s ON BEULAH HEIGHT.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
I don’t have guilt about anything I read, though I’ve plenty about what I haven’t read. Since crime is not my day job, much though I love it, I haven’t time to read much of it.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Realising that although I thought I wanted to write straight novels, and wondered why the jokes kept coming, what I really was cut out for was satire.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
I haven’t read many (see above) but I’m very impressed by Benjamin Black.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Black’s CHRISTINE FALLS.
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The worst is that is for most of us, it doesn’t pay. The best is the crime-writing world, which is full of exceptionally agreeable people.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
A satire about contemporary art – provisionally called KILLING THE EMPERORS - in which I will slay gallery owners and critics as well as the creators of talentless, pretentious rubbish.
Who are you reading right now?
In crime, when I get a chance, Mike Ripley, who is a hilarious writer about the London low-life scene.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
It’s a phrase: ‘subverting political correctness’.

Ruth Dudley Edwards’ MURDERING AMERICANS is available now

Cuddly Dudley Strikes Again

There really is no one else around like Ruth Dudley Edwards (right), author of MURDERING AMERICANS and full-time jagged bayonet in the side of political correctness. Reviewing the latest offering from Benjamin Black (aka John Banville) in last weekend’s Irish Times, La Dud used the platform to take sideswipes at Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright, the literary establishment in general, and - yep, you guessed it - one John Banville. The gist runneth thusly:

“It takes a lot these days to persuade me to read any fiction other than upbeat crime novels, since I find contemporary so-called literary fiction almost invariably disappointing or unpleasant. Foolishly, I allowed myself to be persuaded into reviewing Anne Enright’s THE GATHERING for the Literary Review which made me feel sick (I am squeamish) and which I dismissed as horrid just a few days before she won the Man Booker Prize. Although I once read a John Banville novel (THE UNTOUCHABLE – a roman á clef about the traitor Anthony Blunt) and liked it, I had no inclination to read his Man Booker prize-winner, THE SEA, which sounded lethally depressing, but I let my arm be twisted into reviewing his second crime novel in his Benjamin Black persona – and, being thorough, I first read its predecessor, CHRISTINE FALLS. These should have plunged me into terminal gloom, being about Quirke, an alcoholic pathologist in 1950s Dublin contemplating at world of lies and silence, pregnant girls exiled to laundries, abducted babies, ruthless priests, blackmail, drug addiction, sexual predators and plenty more of the same …”

Erm, yes. Let’s just move swiftly on to the good stuff, shall we?

“I’ve wondered why I like these books so much. It is partly because of Black’s skilful evocation of my city when I was a child: he doesn’t go in for set pieces about place, more for telling detail … It is partly too that despite the subject matter, there is no gratuitous nastiness or disgusting imagery. More important is that Black has produced two highly intelligent, disconcerting, unpredictable and beautifully written page-turners which tell us a great deal about our past and address serious moral issues. In a sane literary world, THE SILVER SWAN would be considered for another Booker prize, but, in fact, Black is unlikely even to be nominated. The literary establishment despises what it calls the genre novel. The notion that a novel should be driven by a compelling narrative is just so yesterday.”

Right, that’s it – consider Crime Always Pays’ stalking of Nicole Kidman officially oh-ver. From now on, it’s La Dud or bust for us …

When A Dud Explodes

How do we love thee, Ruth Dudley Edwards? Let us count the ways … The irascible Ruth Dud (right) is at it again, dissing the chick lit crew in her own inimitable way. Quoth John O’Sullivan, blogging from Magna Cum Murder in Muncie, Indiana:

“Yesterday I arrived in Muncie, Indiana to attend the “Magna Cum Murder” conference of crime, detective, mystery, and thriller writers. My first impression is that writers of murder and mayhem all seem to be extraordinarily pleasant people, both good natured and hospitable. I mentioned this to Ruth Dudley Edwards, author of MURDERING AMERICANS – a thriller set against the background of a politically correct U.S. university …
“Yes, we work out all our enmities and neuroses on the printed page, so we can afford to be nice to each other,” Ruth tells me. “It’s exactly the opposite at the Romantic Writers’ convention. They’re all a lot of backstabbing bitches.”

Pithy, ma’am.

“A Coven Of Bitches?” Hmmm, Ruth Dudley Edward’s Obviously In Town …

There’s no one quite like Ruth Dudley Edwards to tell it like it is. While some of us – and we know who we are – tip-toe around the bleedin’ obvious when talking about women’s fiction, aka chick lit, Ruth straps on a size 12 bovver boot and gets bovvering, most recently in Saturday’s Irish Times, to wit:

“We like each other, do crime writers. Unlike romantic novelists, who allegedly are a coven of bitches, driven to nastiness by having to produce saccharine books, crime writers get their frustrations out on the page and get their revenge on their enemies vicariously … We find each other not just friendly and agreeable, but interesting, because we come from a bewildering variety of backgrounds … And while there are sharks and opportunists in every profession, most of our editors, publishers and booksellers truly love the genre and enjoy its practitioners.”

Oooh, saucy, madam. But then, what would you expect from someone who’s latest offering is the somewhat-less-than-coyly titled MURDERING AMERICANS? Let's just be thankful she’s on our side, people …

Politically Incorrect Latest: Dudley Do-Wrong Does It Again!

Crumbs! First she starts Murdering Americans, now she's having a go at the 'literary condescenders'. She'll be considering the lilies next ... Ruth Dudley Edwards had a whole lot of fun at the expense of the politically correct and literary anal-retentives over at The Telegraph, to wit:

"There are many consolations for those of us consigned to the category of genre fiction, not least that we are much more popular than our self-consciously literary condescenders. I eschew the company of literary writers; I adore the crime writers. We laugh at the pretensions of those who think themselves our betters and we enjoy each other because our backgrounds and preoccupations are so disparate and therefore so interesting. We include, among our number, vets and spies and solicitors and teachers and nurses and linguists and journalists and erstwhile prostitutes, criminals and murderers."

Erm, how come we haven't run into any of these 'erstwhile' nurses then, eh? For more of the same, jump over to The Telegraph ... but beware, fancy-pants literary-types, Ruth ain't taking no prisoners.