I like A Vengeful Longing. Frivolous suggestion, Roger: A Poignant Poignard.

Or something playing with 'seemliness?' (lovely word!)

A Seemly Death
A Seemly Poignard (hmm, only one fancy word per title, perhaps)
A Seemly Weapon
A Seemly Vengeance

You've probably thought of them all before, so I'm just rambling, which is more fun than finishing my own first draft!

Emma

How about, 'Three Key Murders'?

WHat I like about A Vengeful Longing is it ties in with the first book with its structure and the idea of the nasty and the civilised incongruously together.

"Powers and dreams"
"Poisoned powers"
"Poisoned Dreams"
"Underground Dreams"
"A Seemly Revenge"
"The Poisoned Seam" (hehe)
????????

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Quite like The Poisoned Seam or A Poisoned Seam but don't know what it would mean really.

Hey, thanks for the ideas everyone! That's great. I think the problem with A Vengeful Longing is it only really makes sense when you've seen the quote, which would be the epigraph or whatever you call it (what do you call it?) at the front of the book. But the book has to stand out on its own without that. I don't think it's quite strong enough. It's a fine line too, because although the books are crime fiction there is a literary aspect to them, so they don't want to appear too thrillerish. They (the publishers) seem to like a poetic or metaphorical vibe going on. Somehow. I dunno. I suppose it will get called something. Hmm. Not a bad idea... 'Something: a novel'. Not right for this book though.

In David Lodge's very funny TV play about a writing course that isn't - ahem - at all like Arvon, the star novelist invited to read, who never wrote his second book (phew! That's not me any more) reads a talk he calls Instead of a Novel.

Emma

I just thought of Joseph Heller's title: 'Something Happened'. Great! Something happened, why didn't I think of that?

To get back to my own problem, Spite or Spiteful might also be a good word. A Store of Spite. Too alliterative. The Spiteful Letters would be interesting, except I remember reading A Secret Seven book called that when I was a kid. God, I used to love Enid Blyton. A Store of Vengeance. A Spiteful Nurturing. I'm just blathering titles now. It's probably a disease, like Tourette's, the involuntary shouting out of potential titles...

I think it was Hemmingway who called one of his short stories 'The End of Something.' And then the reader had to work out what the fuck had ended.

What about something to do with Vile and vial - as in something you'd put poison in?

Edifying Spite.

Urgh

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A Vial of Spite

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Rather than Seemly what about suitable like a suitable boy

A Suitable Death

If it's something about letters - what about "A Poisoned Pen"?

Or "A Spiteful Pen"

God, God, God. Apologies for my ignorance.

What does 'seamliness' mean in this context? It's not 'it seems good', is it? Is it more to do with neatness and order?

I really don't know why I'm getting involved in this. I'm shit at titles.

But please enlighten me as to the meaning of 'seamliness'.

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Sorry. 'Seemliness.'

Maybe it is 'appearing'. God, I wish I hadn't admitted to this stupidity. I have a first!! Honest!!!

I suddenly remembered the wonderful dictionary. Now I know. Good word.

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I like subverting these things. So, using 'seemly', I'd think along the lines of 'unseemly'.





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But then again, maybe it's best not to have a word in your title that people have to look up. I refuse to believe I can be the only one.

I like the 'twice two' angle - I remember that bit, ending with the wonderful 'twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing, too'.

Can you just call it 'From the Underground'?

I've gone off the 'seemliness' thing. Too much of a gobful.

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There must be a quote from Shakespeare that is fitting for this. I'm thinking of Act5,Scene 5 of Hamlet, where Hamlet is stabbed by a posioned sword, and Claudius hands Gertrude the cup, etc.

I know. Call it, 'O, I am slain!'

Thanks everyone! Lots to think about here. Amazing. I'm in no hurry so I shall probably mull over for a while and then... come to no decision!

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Myrtle, you're making me think there's something in that twice two thought. It was my first idea, and came from that quote you mentioned and other references. I think in a detective novel having a quote at the front that says 'twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing, too' would be quite nice.

It's Rachel (my wife) who doesn't like A Case of Twice Two... !

"I rather like Untitled"

The protagonist of The Information by Martin Amis has a work in progress called Untitled.

"In the drawers of his desk .... lay other novels, all of them firmly entitled Unpublished. And stacked against him in the future, he knew, were yet further novels, successively entitled Unfinished, Unwritten, Unattempted and, eventually, Unconceived."

The un-titles are in italics in the original.

I'd be careful of anything to do with Underground, Roger, 'cos you got a tube train on the front of Taking Comfort.

Any useful connotations from angry man, sick man, something wrong with my liver, and falling sleet?

Jim