Tooth & Nail

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I lived in London for four years, from 1986 to 1990, during which time my home was a maisonette in Tottenham, not far from the River Lea. When I left for France in the summer of 1990, some friends took on the maisonette. We kept in touch. Tooth & Nail was eventually published in the spring of 1992, only it wasn't called Tooth & Nail it was called Wolfman, the name of the serial killer who stalks the book. A few months after publication, my friends in Tottenham sent me a photo they'd taken of a subway between my old home and the river (where the first murder in the book takes place). The subway's, gloomy interior comprised white tiles, and on this surface, in six-foot-high black capitals, someone had painted the name 'Wolfman`.

I keep the photo close at hand even now, to remind myself that there are some fans an author just doesn't want to meet.

Ever.

It was my editor in the USA who mentioned that Wolfman made my story sound like a horror novel, and it was his idea to rename the book Tooth & Nail for the American audience. The title seemed resonant, and chimed with my first two Rebus adventures. When my current publisher Orion got hold of the rights to the book, I persuaded them that it should become Tooth & Nail in the UK too.

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