Monday 16 April 2012

News from the London Book Fair!


Hot off the press from the London Book fair is news that Selina Walker has acquired British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Angharard Kowal at Writers’ House in a literary thriller, The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis.  The Malice of Fortune will be published by Century will publish in hardcover in 2013.


According to the Bookseller Pan Macmillan have acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for four more novels by bestselling thriller writer David Baldacci.  The first title in the new deal, which will be the sixth in his King and Maxwell series, is scheduled for spring 2013.  The second book in the deal will be the sixth title in his Camel Club series, with plans to bring back the character of Will Robbie from The Innocent.

Agents Curtis Brown have sold the rights of the novel Line-Up to HarperCollins.  Line Up is by Israeli thriller writer Liad Shoham and is said to be a superbly plotted, uncompromising crime thriller with a mean streak that exposes the dark and treacherous underbelly of the legal system in Israel.

Gregory and Company have sold the rights to TV Scriptwriter Michele Rowe’s debut novel What Hidden Lies which is set amid the violent gang-ridden townships and the wealthy seaside resorts of Cape Town in South Africa.  They have also sold the rights of former LA based scriptwriter Evan West’s thriller High Rollers to Transworld.  In High rollers Tom Patrick risks everything in a race against time and ruthless killers before people and planes start falling out of the sky like bloody confetti.

Dead Men and Broken Hearts by Craig Russell is the latest in his series about a Canadian private investigator in 1950s Glasgow - now soon to be developed for TV

MBA Literary Agents have sold the rights to a number of books.  These include San Carlos by Neil Forsyth.  San Carlos is a thriller set in 1980a Britain where Craig Turner is a 23 year old former right-wing extremist living under the Witness Protection Scheme.  San Carlos Has been sold to Cape.  Cartoonist and satirist Barry Fantoni's debut Harry Lipkin PI introduces us to the world's oldest private detective, part Sam Spade, part Woody Allen, all mensch.  Harry Lipkin has been sold to Polygon.  Debut novelist Victoria Whitworth’s The Bone Thief has been sold to Ebury.  The Bone Thief is a detective-quest fiction in the mould of Ellis Peters and CJ Sansom and is set in 10th C Mercia.

Agents A P Wyatt have the rights of Ben Cheetham’s thriller Blood Guilt under submission to Simon and Schuster.  Blood Guilt is a thriller about a former policeman’s fall from grace and subsequent struggle to atone.  They have also sold to Simon and Schuster Jane Thynne’s novel Black Roses which is a gripping spy thriller set in Berlin in 1933 and gives a rare view of the private lives of the Nazi wives.  To Bloomsbury where Nick Lake has drawn on all-too-real life for his thriller Hostage 3, about a yacht hijacked by Somalian pirates.

Ebury have the world rights to Sherlock: The Casebook the tie-in to the acclaimed BBC series, featuring extracts from Dr Watson's blog, Inspector Lestrade's police reports, newspaper articles about the crimes, Sherlock's detective notes, and clues from the cases. Sherlock will be published in October 2012.

Harper Fiction have the world rights to Michael Russell's novel The City of Shadows which is a murder mystery involving the Church and the Nazi party in 1930s Dublin.  The City of Shadows will be published in September 2012.

Anton Gill's The Sacred Scroll a thriller centred on the Knights Templar, and set in Constantinople in 1204 and in Istanbul in the present day will be published by Michael Joseph who have the world rights in April 2014.

Little Brown have the world rights and will publish in March 2013 The Collector od Lost Things by scriptwriter and editor for Film Four Jeremy Page.  Set in 1850, it is the story of a young researcher who finds intrigue and danger on an Arctic expedition.  Little Brown (who also have the world rights) will also publish in late 2013 the latest William Brodrick Father Anslem novel No Hurry in her Feet which is about a murder with a background in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Orion have the world rights to Michael Marshall’s new thriller is The Forgotten, about a budding writer who finds himself pursued by "The Followers".  The Forgotten will be published in March 2013.

Random House will publish in October 2012 Silent Witnesses a history of forensic science by Nigel McCrery a former police officer and creator of the TV series Silent Witness.

Simon and Schuster will publish (with world rights) Dead Man’s Land by Robert Ryan in January 2013.  Dead Man’s Land is a literary thriller set in the trenches of the First World War and stars Dr John Watson.

Harvil Secker will publish (and have the English world rights) to Plan D Simon Urban’s bestselling German thriller set in a world in which the Berlin Wall never fell in June 2013.


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