DEAD BEFORE DYING creating buzz in Variety

Hollywood entertainment weekly Variety has been reporting on the progress of All In Productions' three part adaptation of Deon Meyer's DEAD BEFORE DYING, scripted by fellow Blake Friedmann clients Dominic Morgan and Matt Harvey. The Munich based production company acquired rights to the book in March last year. Here is the article:

'Germany's All In Production is prepping a TV movie trilogy based on South African crime novelist Deon Meyer's bestsellers.

The Munich-based shingle has tapped German-South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz, who helmed the 2010 Cannes screener "Life Above All," to direct the first installment, DEAD BEFORE DYING from an English-language script by Brits Matt Harvey and Dominic Morgan.

The 1996 book introduced Cape Town police captain Mat Joubert, a depressed and overweight chain-smoker still grieving the loss of his wife, killed in the line of duty. A wave of homicides, coupled with a tough new commanding officer who imposes a strict diet and mental health regimen on his detectives, gives the investigator a new lease on life.

Joubert also appears in Meyer's DEAD AT DAYBREAK and TRACKERS.

All In is in talks with TV partners and international co-producers for the project, which will include an international cast.

Meyer's works have been attracting plenty of interest from moviemakers. London-based South Africans Malcolm Kohll and Robert Fig optioned the author's THIRTEEN HOURS, about a detective's race to find the killer of an American student in Cape Town. France's TF1 Intl. has acquired rights to BLOOD SAFARI, about a freelance bodyguard up against ruthless wildlife poachers.'

You can read it on the Variety website here.

THE SOMNAMBULIST picked for the TV Book Club

Essie Fox's debut novel, THE SOMNAMBULIST, has been selected as one of ten books chosen for the return of the TV Book Club, when the series returns to More4 on Sunday 29 January, with repeat episodes on Channel Four. It will be featured on 12 February, 3rd in the sequence.

Funded by Specsavers, the ten-part series sees a celebrity panel that includes Meera Syal, Dave Spikey and Laila Rouass, critiquing a new title each week. For the first time ever, viewers are invited to interact with the show, reading along with them and sending in their own reviews.

THE SOMNAMBULIST is published in the UK by Orion, Castelvecchi in Italy and Damm in Sweden.

For more info and a list of the ten short listed books click here.

Praise for THE SOMNAMBULIST:
'This is a gutsy page-turning novel with a delightful heroine...larger than life Dickensian characters and generous supply of plot twists and turns. But it is no pastiche. It is an affectionate and knowledgeable homage to the genre and a thumping good read.' -- Sally Zigmond, Historical Novels Review

'Vividly compelling, dark and dazzling.' -- Katherine Webb

'Finishing THE SOMNAMBULIST feels like coming back (somewhat regretfully) from time-travelling to Victoria's England. Essie Fox's descriptions of places are just wonderful. This writer has the neat knack of recapturing the mystical eccentricity of Victorian time and place without caricaturing it. I was totally drawn in...A beautiful reading experience! I look forward to the next book from this writer.' -- Michelle Lovric, author of THE BOOK OF HUMAN SKIN

'Wonderful debut...well written - lively and believable characters...I found this book difficult to put down and look forward to more from this very promising author.' -- Yorkshire Gazette and Herald

New version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST a Christmas Hit

Steve Hawes' stage adaptation of the traditional fairytale BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was a festive treat for residents of Hampshire, playing at the Haymarket, Basingstoke during December as part of Anvil Arts' Christmas programme.

An alternative to the plethora of pantomimes staged at this time of year, Steve's production returned to the French fairytale La Belle et la Bête for its inspiration, providing a darker version of the story than those familiar with the Disney classic may have expected. Directed by Paul Chamberlain and starring Anne Marie Piazza and Oliver Stoney in the lead roles, the production made excellent use of music, video inserts and innovative stage design to bring the story to life.

The play was well received by audiences and critics alike. The Stage commented '[Hawes] has given considerable thought to this version of Beauty and the Beast, we learn more about why Beast is the bestial creature that he is, giving a much deeper insight into the morality and folklore behind this tale.' The full review can be found here.

Season's Greetings from Blake Friedmann

Blake Friedmann are now closed for the holidays.  Our offices will reopen on the morning of Wednesday 4 January 2012.

We wish you happy and healthy holidays, and much success for 2012.

Peter James supports the ‘Million for a Morgue’ campaign.

Peter James is one of ten authors supporting the 'Million for a Morgue' campaign.  The University of Dundee instigated the project to build a new morgue at Dundee's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) to allow Professor Black and other members of the team to adopt the revolutionary Thiel method of embalming. Each month the campaign will focus on a different author and will offer special prizes.

December is dedicated to Peter James, who is offering one lucky couple a 'dead good' dinner, including rail travel within the UK. Peter says: 'I can promise a dead good dinner, to be eaten in a considerably more salubrious environment than a mortuary and with a full-bodied wine that has come from a fine vine and not a human vein'.

Everyone who votes before the end of December will go into a draw for the prize. Other prizes include a signed hardback copy of PERFECT PEOPLE. Each vote costs £1, and it will go towards the £1 million target. The author with the most amount of votes will have the morgue named after them. So please vote now for Peter James!

To vote and for more information on the campaign, please click here.