As Headline and Blake Friedmann celebrate Ann Granger and her thirty years of publishing with Headline, we are delighted to announce that a new three-book deal for UK and British Commonwealth rights (including Canada) has been clinched. Headline Executive Editor Clare Foss has acquired two new novels and a collection of short stories from Ann Granger’s agent, Isobel Dixon.
Drawing together stories which have appeared in magazines and anthologies over Ann Granger’s entire writing career, the collection, MYSTERY IN THE MAKING, will be published in hardback on 9 December 2021. The first novel, DEADLY COMPANY, will mark a return to the ever-popular Mitchell and Markby series and will be published in July 2022. The second novel, to be published in July 2023, will continue Granger’s Victorian mystery series, featuring Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ben Ross and his wife Lizzie. These much-loved characters featured in the most recent series addition, THE TRUTH-SEEKER’S WIFE, which was published in summer 2021. The paperback is due to be released on 9 December 2021, the same day as MYSTERY IN THE MAKING comes out in hardback – a fantastic Christmas package for Granger fans!
Clare Foss said: ‘It is a privilege to publish one of the nation’s best-loved and most well-respected crime writers. Over the last thirty years, hundreds of thousands of Ann’s fans have followed the fortunes of Mitchell and Markby, Fran Varady, Campbell and Carter, and Ben and Lizzie Ross.’
Ann Granger said: ‘To think that I have been writing crime fiction for 30 years seems astonishing to me. The time has passed so quickly. I have been very fortunate to have had wonderful backing in my writing career. I have been a client of a first-class agency in Blake Friedmann; and this has provided a constant support for which I am very grateful.
I have also had the good fortune, over the years, to have had three wonderful editors at Headline: Anne Williams, Marion Donaldson and Clare Foss. They’ve always been there for me with advice and encouragement. I could not have been luckier. My most constant supporter, my late husband John Hulme, is sadly no longer here to share this 30th anniversary of writing. Even when he knew himself to have little time left, he urged me to keep writing. So, I shall continue to do so for as long as it’s possible.’
Isobel Dixon said: ‘It’s an absolute honour and joy to represent Ann Granger, having worked for two decades with her long-time agent Carole Blake. Some of my first deals at Blake Friedmann were selling Ann’s wonderful short stories and crime fiction serials – crafty 3- and 5-parters delivered for magazines with clockwork precision – and I loved talking with so many translating publishers about her beloved Mitchell and Markby and Fran Varady books then too.
It’s been glorious to see the full scope of the work unfold, with Headline also now publishing the Victorian crime series, and Campbell and Carter picking up from Mitchell and Markby in crime-solving in the Cotswolds. With the short story collection signposting Ann’s remarkable thirty years with Headline, we’re thrilled to still be in full swing with the new three-book deal, and looking forward to the road ahead. Ann is a dream author for an agent, for her publishers and her readers – here’s to many more stories.’
Headline has sold well over a million copies of Ann Granger’s novels and all four of her series continue to sell strongly. Her work is published in 10 languages, and she has had particular success in Germany, with millions of copies sold, in addition to more than 30 appearances in the Top 5 on the German bestseller lists.
Praise for Ann Granger
‘Granger’s deft touch raises her above the competition and her finely drawn characters are affecting and believable…Something quite special.’ — Crime Time
‘Anyone who enjoys crime stories featuring credible characters in action in a recognizable real world…will lap up the work of Ann Granger.’ — Oxford Mail
'Well-plotted… realistically portrayed, mature characters whose motivations for solving the crimes are nearly as interesting as the crimes themselves. To be savoured by connoisseurs of characterisation.' — Publishers Weekly
‘Granger writes in the best tradition of Agatha Christie and classic crime stories’ — Woman Space
About the author
Ann Granger is a bestselling British crime author. Born in Portsmouth, England, she went on to study at the University of London. She has written over thirty murder mysteries, including the Mitchell & Markby Mysteries, the Fran Varady Mysteries, the Victorian Inspector Ben Ross and Lizzie Martin Mysteries and the Campbell and Carter Mysteries. Her books are set in Britain, and feature female detectives, murderous twists and characters full of humour and colour. She has been published in the UK by Headline for more than 30 years and her German publisher Lübbe has sold millions of copies of her work.