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Feature
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Now Available
Meurtres sur l’Exe :
les enquêtes de Paige Harper
The French edition of Exe River Murders
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Paige Harper parle français!
I am beyond delighted to announce that Exe River Murders — the first adventure in the Paige Harper Mysteries — is now available in French as Meurtres sur l’Exe : les enquêtes de Paige Harper. It genuinely still makes me smile every single time I see that title on the screen.
What makes this release particularly special — and rather close to my heart — is that I translated the book myself. Before I ever became a novelist, I spent many years working as a professional literary translator, and that career shaped not just how I write, but how I think about language, character, and the rhythms of a good story.
Literary translation is one of the most demanding and rewarding crafts I know. It is never simply a matter of swapping words between languages; it is about capturing the spirit of a story — the wit of a character, the atmosphere of a place, the particular way a sentence lands on the ear. When you are translating someone else’s work, you carry enormous responsibility. When you are translating your own, it becomes something altogether different: an intimate conversation with yourself across languages.
Rendering the Exe Valley into French — those winding riverbanks, the damp autumn light, the very particular English cosy atmosphere — was a challenge I absolutely relished. Some things translate beautifully. Others require ingenuity, patience, and the occasional cheerful argument with a bilingual dictionary. I hope French-speaking readers will feel entirely at home with Paige, even as she moves through a very English world.
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“Translating my own book felt like meeting Paige Harper all over again for the first time — only this time, she was speaking to me in French.”
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If you have friends or family who read in French — or if you are a French speaker yourself and have been waiting patiently — please do share the news. Paige (and Sprite!) would be delighted to reach a wider audience. For the moment, it’s available as an ebook. Plans for a paperback version are afoot.
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