Blood Meridian; Or, The Ribbon Redness In The East

Lately it seems as if there’s hardly a week that goes by without another Irish crime novel dropping through the letterbox, and as often as not said novel will be from a debutant writer. Such was the case earlier this week when Louise Phillips’ RED RIBBONS (Hachette Ireland) arrived, with the blurb elves wittering thusly:

A SERIAL KILLER

When the body of a missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, her hands clasped together in prayer, two red ribbons in her hair, the hunt for her killer reaches epic proportion with the discovery of a second girl’s body 24 hours later.

THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Desperate to find the murderer, police call in criminal psychologist Kate Pearson, to get inside the mind of the serial killer before he strikes again. But the more Kate discovers about the killings, the more it all begins to feel terrifyingly familiar as her own past threatens to cloud her investigations.

AN ACCUSED WOMAN

Ellie Brady has been institutionalised for 15 years, for the killing of her twelve-year-old daughter, Amy. After all this time, does Ellie hold the key to finding the killer of the Dublin schoolgirls?

What would you do if you were accused of killing your own daughter? What if those closest to you turned their back on you? And when everyone stopped listening, what next, when even you believe you’re guilty?

  So there you have it. RED RIBBONS is published on September 3rd, and for those of you wondering who Louise Phillips is, herewith be her official bio:

Born in Dublin, Louise Phillips returned to writing in 2006, after raising her family. That year she was selected by Dermot Bolger as an emerging talent in the county. Louise’s work has been published as part of many anthologies, including COUNTY LINES from New Island, and various literary journals. In 2009, she won the Jonathan Swift Award for her short story ‘Last Kiss’, and in 2011 she was a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice platform. She has also been short-listed for the Molly Keane Memorial Award, Bridport UK, and long-listed twice for the RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition. RED RIBBONS is her debut novel. Her second novel, THE DOLL’S HOUSE, will be published by Hachette Books Ireland in 2013.