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October 2006


LONG BARN BOOKS FIRST NOVEL COMPETITION

THE WINNING NOVEL IS:

THE GOOD THIEF`S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM by CHRIS EWAN

This year there were fewer entries but the standard was much higher. All the shortlisted books fully deserved their place and fully deserve to be published by someone. Major publisher SIMON AND SCHUSTER will consider ALL of them for publication. But LONG BARN BOOKS can only publish one and I had no hesitation in making it Chris Ewan`s brilliant novel which is highly original, clever, funny, quirky and terrifically well-written.It has mass market appeal and Chris is going on to write more - THE GOOD THIEF`S GUIDE TO... probably Paris next, then New York.
SIMON AND SCHUSTER will publish the novel in mass market paperback in 2008. The HARDBACK edition will come from LONG BARN in late May/early June 2007.

The synopsis of the book and a biographical note.

Charlie Howard writes caper novels about a career thief. He also
happens to
be one.

In Amsterdam working on his latest book, Charlie is approached by an American who asks him to steal two apparently worthless monkey figurines from two separate addresses on the same night. At first he says no. Then he changes his mind. Only later, kidnapped and bound to a chair, the American long dead and a spell in police custody behind him, does Charlie begin to realise just how costly a mistake he might have made.

The police think he killed the American. Others think he knows the whereabouts of the elusive third monkey. But for Charlie only three things matter: Can he clear his name? Can he get away with the haul of a lifetime? And can he solve the briefcase-shaped plot-hole in his latest novel?

Biography

Chris Ewan was born in Taunton in 1976. He read American Studies at the University of Nottingham and later trained as a lawyer, during which time he spent six months working in Amsterdam. He currently lives on the Isle of Man.

THE OTHER SHORTLISTED NOVELS WERE

PUNJABI MOON by Natasha Mann
WALKING AT LOW TIDE by Jane Taylor
DR ERIN O`ROURKE by Shirley Williamson
THE CLEANSING by Bill Rogers

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT SUSAN HILL at editorial@longbarnbooks.com