DEON MEYER’S ICARUS – US PUBLICATION, INTERNATIONAL DEALS

In the week of the US publication of ICARUS by Grove Atlantic, we’re celebrating a plethora of new deals for international bestselling author Deon Meyer, with translation rights sold to Le Seuil in France, Aufbau in Germany, Bruna in Holland, Edizioni E/O in Italy and Tiden Norsk in Norway.  ICARUS has already been published in SA, by NB books (where it earned widespread recognition by holding on to the top spot of charts for several weeks and selling over 40,000 copies) and Hodder in the UK, with amazing reviews including those listed below.  

Deon Meyer will be attending the Frankfurt Book Fair before embarking on a 10-city European tour throughout Germany (where several events have already sold out) and then on to Prague, Cracow and Warsaw. He was also in Italy at the Salerno Crime Festival this summer, where he was warmly received. You can check details of Deon’s events on his website. 

This novel witnesses the return of Benny Griessel, struggling to stay sober, and bruised by a policeman friend’s terrible suicide. Yet the discovery of a body buried beneath the sand dunes north of Cape Town will test his willpower even further. Why was notorious Ernst Richter, MD of a new tech startup, Alibi targeted? How exactly is a service that creates false appointments, documents and phone calls to enable people to cheat on their partners, linked to this high profile murder? With all eyes on Benny’s pursuit to uncover the truth, he will battle not just to track down the killer, but against the siren call of the whiskey bottle as well.

Deon Meyer lives in Cape Town. His books are published in 27 countries, and have been awarded many prizes around the world: the Deutsche Krimi Prize in Germany, the ATKV Prize in South Africa, and Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique in France. His novel THIRTEEN HOURS was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA International Dagger, and HEART OF THE HUNTER, was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Prize and selected as one of Chicago Tribune's '10 best mysteries and thrillers of 2004'. Most recently, COBRA was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA International Dagger.

 Praise for ICARUS:

‘Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans, has long been hailed as South Africa's greatest crime writer. ICARUS places him firmly in the top international league. It's the fifth, and best, of the Benny Griessel series... One of Meyer's strengths is his ability to portray lesser characters with as much attention as he pays to central ones... Meyer scores also in his sensitive portrayals of the social and racial elements of a South Africa still struggling to find its equilibrium.’ – Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Deon Meyer’s South Africa is laid bare in ICARUS […] it is as glittering and hard as the diamonds his country is famous for. […] Meyer utilises the crime fiction genre as an apparatus to create a multifaceted, unsparing picture of his country.’ – The Independent

‘Excellent … The richness of the characters, especially the multifaceted Benny, elevates this above most contemporary police procedurals.’ – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Visit Deon's website here.

Follow Deon on Twitter.

Peter James’ standalone novel THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL published in hardback today

They said the dead can’t hurt you… They were wrong…

Peter James spine-chilling new ghost story, THE HOUSE OF COLD HILL, is published in hardback by Macmillan today. This new standalone novel is Peter James at his scary best, and sure to be loved by fans of the bestselling Roy Grace series and new readers alike.

Moving from the heart of the city of Brighton and Hove to the Sussex countryside is a big undertaking for the Harcourts. But when they view Cold Hill House they are filled with excitement.  Within days of moving in, it soon becomes apparent that the Harcourt family aren't the only residents in the house though. At first it is only a friend of Jade, talking to her on Facetime, who sees a spectral woman standing behind her. Then there are more sightings of her, as well as increasingly disturbing occurrences in the house. Two weeks after moving in, Caro, out in the garden, is startled to see faces staring out of an upstairs window of the house. The window of a room which holds the secret to the house's dark history... a room which does not appear to exist...

Peter James’ 11th Roy Grace novel, YOU ARE DEAD, was published on 21 May 2015, and went straight to number one in the hardback bestseller chart. It is out in paperback on 22 October. The Roy Grace novels are translated into more than three dozen languages. Polish rights to THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL are sold to Albatros. View more on Peter’s website.

Praise for Peter James:

'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business.' -- Karin Slaughter

'Exceptional, knock-your-socks-off.' -- Washington Post

Julian Stockwin’s TYGER out tomorrow from Hodder

The 16th novel in Julian Stockwin’s popular KYDD series, TYGER, is published in hardback tomorrow by Hodder and Stoughton. The novel was published in the US last week by McBooks.

In the latest instalment, the greatest naval trial in the Georgian period is underway at Portsmouth with the court martial of Sir Home Popham, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd's commanding officer in the doomed occupation of Buenos Aires. Kydd has some sympathy for Popham's unauthorised action but his support for his former commander leaves him athwart some very influential people in the Admiralty. Action-packed, and page-turning, as we follow Kydd and Renzi in another adventure.

At 14 Stockwin joined a tough sea-training school, followed by the Royal Navy, transferring to the Royal Australian Navy when his family emigrated.  He saw active service in the Far East, the Antarctic, the South Seas and Vietnam, and was on board the Melbourne at the time of its disastrous peace time collision with the Voyager.  His standalone novel THE SILK TREE is currently out in paperback from Allison & Busby. He’s currently writing another KYDD novel for Hodder and another standalone, THE CRAKYS OF WAR, for Allison & Busby.

Praise for the KYDD series:

‘Pasha is a cracking read. The only downside of this new book is that there is the wait until the next story is published.’ - Firetrench

 ‘The story takes you on an explosive journey, which is full of unexpected turns … rich in action and full of interesting characters, this thrilling novel leaves you in awe of the 18th century seaman.’ -- Evening Telegraph

YOU ARE DEAD PUBLISHED IN US TODAY BY MINOTAUR BOOKS

Peter James’ 11th Roy Grace novel, YOU ARE DEAD, is published in the US today by Minotaur Books. YOU ARE DEAD was recently awarded the Dr. Lector Award for Scariest Villain at Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Festival in Harrogate. The UK paperback will be published on the 22nd of October by Macmillan.

The last words Nick hears from his fiancée Logan, are in a terrified mobile phone call from her. She has driven into the underground car park beneath their apartment and seen a man acting strangely.  She screams, the phone goes dead.  The police are on the scene within minutes, but Logan has vanished, leaving behind her neatly parked car and telephone.  This is the beginning of what becomes a tortuous case for Roy Grace and his team, leading to the discovery of bodies of young women, and a terrifying chase to find the murderer, and Logan, dead or alive.  Surprising twists and chilling discoveries deliver a breath-taking read.

Peter James has been twice Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and has won many literary awards: as popular internationally as in the UK, he won the US Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel in 2012.  This year, 2015, he was voted by WH Smith readers as The Best Crime Author Of All Time. He is published in more than 3 dozen languages.

Praise for Peter James:

'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business.' – Karin Slaughter

'Exceptional, knock-your-socks-off.' – Washington Post

‘Sinister and riveting… Peter James is one of the best British crime writers, and therefore one of the best in the world.’ – Lee Child

Find out more about Peter James at Blake Friedmann's, Pan Macmillan's and Peter’s websites and follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

THIRST by Kerry Hudson shortlisted for the prestigious Femina Prize

After being picked by the major UK retailer WH Smith as a Fresh Talent, Kerry Hudson's LA COULEUR DE L'EAU (published in the UK as THIRST) is flying high in France. The jury of the prestigious Prix Femina 2015 unveiled on Friday, October 2nd, its second selection of 10 French and 10 foreign novels shortlisted for the prize: THIRST by Kerry Hudson is among a shortlist that includes Martin Amis, Laird Hunt and Dinaw Mengestu. The jury will meet again on October 21st, to decide a second shortlist of French and foreign novels, and the final winners will be awarded on November 4.

Since its publication in France by Philippe Rey at the end of August, THIRST has been receiving stunning reviews and has been picked out across the media as a highlight of the 2015 ‘Rentree Litteraire’. The first chapter of the novel appeared in July on Le Bien Public, and the novel was reviewed and mentioned by the main French cultural papers, from Le Parisienne to La Montagne.

 Liberation says: ‘With her beautiful first novel last year, Kerry Hudson is back on top form with THIRST’

 Femme Actuelle says: ‘A wonderful book, as brilliant as it is moving’

THIRST is a contemporary love story from Scottish First Book Award winner Kerry Hudson. It was published in 2014 by Chatto, and translated in French (Editions Philippe Rey) and Italian (Minimum Fax).

Alena and Dave are both on the run from disaster, and meet during a London heatwave to begin a love affair as dark, joyful and frenetic as the city itself. Dave, who has built a carefully controlled world of self-denial and isolation, is drawn to Alena's passion for life, while Alena discovers that sex can be more than a transaction and that love and safety are priceless commodities. But a relationship founded on secrets is easily shattered, and when Alena's ex-lover arrives, threatening to expose her, Alena flees. By the time Dave overcomes his mistrust about Alena and her past, and follows her into the bitter Russian winter, he can only hope he's not too late to convince her that just as spring will come, second and even third chances can always be found. THIRST is a heart-breaking romance of almost unbearable fragility based in contemporary East London and rural Russia.

Born in Aberdeen, Kerry Hudson grew up in a succession of council estates, B&Bs and caravan parks which provided her with a keen eye for idiosyncratic behaviour, material for life, and a love of travel. She was chosen as a Bookseller Rising Star 2014 for her work on the WoMentoring project. She currently divides her writing time and affections between Hackney and Hanoi, and is working on her third novel.

 Praise for THIRST:

‘Explores the lives of people not generally considered fit for literature and does so with wit and a shrewdness that makes Hudson's subjects zing from the page.’ – Guardian

 'Tremendously affecting… impressively unostentatious' – Claire Allfree, Metro

 ‘Heart-wrenching without being maudlin, THIRST is a novel about the scraps of hope that people find when they’re completely out of options… Hudson has an eye for detail and her meticulous research shows without bogging down the narrative. There are villains, but no obvious heroes. It’s a bleak outlook, but Hudson makes it beautiful.’ – Kaite Welsh, The Independent