Tales From The Cryptic

There’s more to Paul Nagle’s debut novel IRONIC than meets the eye, folks. Quoth his interweb flummery:

“Can you figure out the Ironic cryptic clue I have written into the story? I have written the answer and placed it in a gold envelope and lodged it in a bank vault for safe keeping. It will be revealed in September 2009. If you want to participate all the details are printed on the back page of the book.”

  A gold envelope, eh? Nice. Mind you, we’re still a bit in the dark as to what you actually win if you work out the cryptic clue in advance. Is there an actual prize, or do you just get that smug glow that comes with being a pain-in-the-arse shitehawker?* We need to be told. If anyone in the Paul Nagle camp can put us wise, we’d be very grateful.
  Meanwhile, the first of the cryptic clues comes in the vid below, courtesy of YouTube, with cryptic clues 2-4 also available on the same YouTube page. Roll it there, Collette …

* Peter? That’s a gratuitous one, especially for you ...

Always Judge A Book By Its Cover # 114: Paul Nagle’s IRONIC

We hadn’t really planned to mention Paul Nagle again until autumn rolls around, as his debut novel, IRONIC, isn’t due on the shelves until October 16, but then we caught a glimpse of said tome’s cover, which fair took our breath away. In fact, so audaciously minimalist was it, that we initially thought it was some kind of prototype. But no! Kudos to the design elves responsible; we haven’t been so impressed with Irish crime fiction artwork since Ken Bruen’s forthcoming ONCE WERE COPS and (koff) some chancing wastrel’s THE BIG O … And is that a human body swirling around in the smoke? Or have we just been hitting the old Elf Wonking Juice™ a little too hard this weekend? Only time, that notoriously doity stoolie rat, will tell …

“It’s Like Rai-ai-ain / On Your Wedding Day …”

Rhian from It’s A Crime! is kind enough to whisper in our electronic shell-like about Paul Nagle (right), whom she met at the London Book Fair. Nagle’s debut novel IRONIC is due in October, with the blurb elves wibbling thusly:

Lex Goldman stands accused of killing a young NYPD officer. His trial, set in the full glare of the world’s media, has captured the zeitgeist: the impregnable power of immeasurable wealth against the cold steel edge of justice. But who exactly is the elusive Lex Goldman? From the gold mines of apartheid-era South Africa to the cut and thrust of Wall Street, from Colombia’s notorious cartels to international terrorism, the twists and turns of Lex Goldman’s charmed life leave a deadly trail of intrigue, deception and covert cover-ups, all in the insatiable pursuit of wealth. Has Lex finally overstepped the mark? Has his luck at last run out? The coolheaded young prosecutor Kal Woodson, on a mission to stamp out such abject abuse of power and position, certainly believes so, and will do everything in his power to make it stick. A classic thriller in the true sense of the word, IRONIC, by first-time novelist Paul Nagle, is a roller-coaster ride of a novel, played out on an international stage as it hurtles towards its final bitter irony ...

Hurrah! CAP Towers has been suffering from a severe irony deficit for some months now. Will IRONIC cure our entirely metaphorical anaemia? Only time, that notoriously verbose stoolie canary, will tell …