Hodder & Stoughton snaps up two more standalones from Will Dean

Jo Dickinson, Executive Publisher at Hodder & Stoughton, has acquired two new high-concept standalone thrillers by Will Dean, to be published in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Dickinson bought UK and Commonwealth rights including audio from Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann. The first of these new books is set on a cruise ship, where a woman wakes up in the morning to find she is the only person left on board.

Will’s first standalone novel, THE LAST THING TO BURN was published in January 2021 and received widespread praise. The paperback format publishes in February 2022. The film rights have been optioned by Sigma Films (whose credits include OUTLAW KING, RED ROAD and STARRED UP).

Dean’s second standalone, FIRST BORN, will be published in hardback in April 2022 and will be backed by an ambitious campaign in both the UK and US. A tale of rivalry and deceit, it follows the story of Molly Raven who is attempting to uncover what happened to her twin sister Katie. Could it be murder? She travels to New York City to find out.

Will Dean says: ‘I feel so fortunate to continue working with Jo and the wonderful team at Hodder. I’m glad THE LAST THING TO BURN resonated with readers, and I’m grateful to each and every librarian and bookseller who recommended it. The fact that the amazing people at Sigma Films can now bring the story to screen is a dream come true.’

Kate Burke says: ‘I’m delighted to have this new deal in place with the fantastic Hodder team! It has been a great journey so far and this is just the beginning – I predict amazing things for Will’s next books.’

Jo Dickinson says: ‘Working alongside Will on the brilliant THE LAST THING TO BURN and FIRST BORN has been an absolute joy and I’m delighted to have acquired two new novels. Will is an exceptional writer. He has so many fans already and I believe these new books will take him to even greater heights.’

Will’s Tuva Moodyson series will continue to be published by Oneworld.

Praise for THE LAST THING TO BURN and FIRST BORN:

‘MISERY meets ROOM… a triumph!’ – Marian Keyes

‘THE LAST THING TO BURN is one of the best thrillers I have read in years: I consumed it in great gulps, desperate to find out how Thanh Dao’s story played out, and then read it again, more slowly, savouring her courage and her unvanquished sense of self, despite everything.’ — Alison Flood, Observer

‘THE LAST THING TO BURN is a remarkable exploration of the misery of life on the fringes of society. Unrelenting tense and chilling, yet impossible to put down, the reader lives every second with Thahn, desperately hoping she can escape the monstrous Lenn. This thriller is a level above anything Dean has written before and an early contender for one of the best books of the year.’ — Sunday Express

‘Equal parts murder mystery and psychological thriller, Will Dean dazzles with FIRST BORN. A tense, taut plot that blows through unexpected twists and turns, you won't be able to look away until the final, shattering page.’ – Julie Clark

‘Tiptoes into Highsmith territory here. Pacy, exhilarating and jaw-dropping, it's a meditation on identity and loneliness as well as a bloody good page-turner. New York buffets the characters about its ruthless streets, just as the reader is propelled from one twist to the next’ – Erin Kelly

Photo: Rosalind Hobley

About Will Dean:

Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

DARK PINES, the first in the Tuva Moodyson series, was published to huge critical acclaim in 2018,  shortlisted for Not the Booker prize, selected for Zoe Ball’s TV Book Club and named as a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. The second Tuva Moodyson mystery, RED SNOW, won Best Independent Voice at the Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards, 2019, and was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2020. His third novel, BLACK RIVER, was chosen as Observer Thriller of the Month.

Follow Will on Twitter and Instagram.

Watch Will on YouTube.

Sally Andrew’s RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER to be adapted for television by M-Net

Principal photography has begun on the new South African murder mystery series RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, based on the Tannie Maria novels by Sally Andrew. Starring Outlander actor Maria Doyle Kennedy and Tony Kgoroge, the series will premiere on M-Net (DStv 101) in March 2022 in South Africa and Acorn TV will then bring the show to the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Further territory information will be announced in due course.

The ten-episode series being filmed in the Karoo and Scotland is a co-production between South African network M-Net (part of the Multichoice Group), AMC Networks' Acorn TV, German distributor Global Screen (a brand of Telepool) and Cape Town-based Both Worlds Pictures, who are producing in collaboration with Scottish indie Pirate Productions.

M-Net will hold exclusive rights to the series in Africa and Acorn TV will hold exclusive rights in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, while Telepool-owned Global Screen will handle distribution for the rest of the world. This quirky, heartwarming and deliciously food-filled  murder mystery series is based on Sally Andrew's acclaimed novel RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER: A TANNIE MARIA MYSTERY and centres on Maria Purvis (played by Kennedy), an advice columnist who investigates the murder of one of her correspondents.

When a woman who has written to Maria about her abusive husband is found dead, Maria joins forces with a courageous rookie journalist, Jessie September (played by newcomer Kylie Fisher). Together the two women set out to solve the small-town murder and catch the killer – before the local police find more victims. Tony Kgoroge plays Khaya Meyer, the local Chief Detective.

Read what Sally Andrew has to say about her experience of optioning film rights to her bestselling series:

https://www.paperturn-view.com/penguin-post-magazine/penguinpost14?pid=MTk198872&p=23&fbclid=IwAR2qX4l6Xgc4n5lWPFJsTQomNYrgImkmtc88cE4OxUpyaxyed6Aqv1H8fBI

The series will also star Elton Landrew (Trackers, Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story) as Constable Piet, Arno Greeff (Vaselinetjie) as Warrant Officer Regardt Snyman, Jennifer Steyn (Goodbye Bafana) as the editor of the local paper, and Lee Duru (Mama Jack) as Grace, a domestic worker whose story shakes up the town.

The novel was adapted for television by South African writer Karen Jeynes. Christiaan Olwagen (Kanarie, Poppie Nongena) and David Isaacs (Swartwater, Joe Barber) will direct the project. Karen Jeynes is also an executive producer along with Annie Griffin on the Scottish side, Christiaan Olwagen, star Maria Doyle Kennedy, Acorn’s MD Catherine Mackin, Lesley Pemberton, M-Net’s Yolisa Phahle, Allan Sperling and Jan du Plessis, and Both World’s Thierry Cassuto and Karen Jeynes.

Thierry Cassuto of Both Worlds Pictures says: ‘We are thrilled to partner with M-Net, Acorn and Global Screen to produce this ambitious series brilliantly adapted by Karen Jeynes from the delicious Sally Andrew novels. Viewers can look forward to a dazzling cast and a very intriguing story with a unique tone, which brings together small-town life, murder, love and mouth-watering food, which our extraordinarily talented director Christiaan Olwagen likes to present as The Killing meets Chocolat.’

Yolisa Phahle, CEO of General Entertainment and Connected Video for MultiChoice said: ‘MultiChoice is delighted to partner with Acorn TV and Global Screen on this brilliant murder mystery series. We are proud to be working with South Africa’s talented writer Karen Jeynes and award-winning directors Christiaan Olwagen and David Isaacs. This partnership will continue to put MultiChoice on the forefront of high-quality African television that promotes our ongoing commitment of being Africa’s most-loved storyteller.’

Acorn’s Mackin said: ‘We look forward to bringing this first-ever TV dramatization of Sally Andrew’s renowned novels to life. This series is a prime example of the kind of fascinating, masterfully written stories set around the globe which we’re proud to offer.’

Sally Andrew’s Tannie Maria series has been published in 14 languages and across 5 continents, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER and THE SATANIC MECHANIC are available from Ecco Press in the US, Canongate in the UK and Penguin Random House South Africa, who have also published DEATH ON THE LIMPOPO . The fourth instalment in the series, THE MILK TART MURDER, will be published by PRH South Africa in March 2022.

Both readers and viewers are in for more Tannie Maria treats!

You can see lots of excellent video clips – featuring beautiful nature and appetising food –  on Sally’s YouTube channel and get a glimpse of Sally and Tannie Maria’s world on her website.

Praise for Sally Andrew’s Tannie Maria series:

‘Sublime’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Vivid, amusing and immensely enjoyable …. A triumph.’ – Alexander McCall Smith

‘Utterly delicious, to the very last morsel.’ — Deon Meyer

‘Detection, recipes and a cracking mystery. An irresistible page-turning debut.’ – Woman & Home

‘An intriguing mystery in an exotic locale, a work of enormous charm.’ — Wall Street Journal

‘A delightful debut, tender and funny.’ – Kirkus

About Sally Andrew

Sally Andrew divides her time between the Cape Town coast and a nature reserve near Ladismith in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, where she lives with her wildlife artist partner, among various wild creatures (including, as she says, ‘a giant eland and a secretive leopard’). Sally has also published a number of non-fiction books on adult and environmental education.

The Tannie Maria series titles are all bestsellers in South Africa – regularly in the Top 5 – and Sally is a firm festival favourite. Sally also receives a stream of fan mail from all around the world – often enquiring how soon the next delicious instalment will reach readers!

Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Promotions

Kate Burke

Sian Ellis-Martin

It’s a great pleasure to share news of significant promotions and appointments within the Blake Friedmann agency team.

We’re thrilled that Kate Burke will be stepping up to become a director on the company’s executive board, working closely with Julian Friedmann, Chairman, and Isobel Dixon, MD and Head of Books, in the management of the agency, along with Head of Finance, Daisy Way and Vice Head of Books, Juliet Pickering, who both joined the Executive Board last year.

Kate Burke joined Blake Friedmann in 2019 from Northbank Talent Management after working as an editor for ten years at Headline, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House. She represents a stellar list of crime, thriller, historical and commercial women’s fiction, including writers Will Dean, Dani Atkins and Allie Reynolds. We’re delighted to be able to recognise Kate’s sterling contribution to the agency, not just through the work of her authors, but also in her sharing of expertise and mentoring support for colleagues. We look forward to developing the company’s future together.

We’re also very happy to announce that Sian Ellis-Martin, who joined the agency three years ago, has been promoted to Associate Agent. She will continue to support Kate Burke’s authors and some of the authors on Isobel Dixon’s list, but will be taking on clients for direct representation too. You can see more about her interests for potential submission here.

Earlier this year we welcomed Tabitha Topping to Blake Friedmann as Book Department Assistant, after she had worked with us part-time since her stint as our Carole Blake Open Doors candidate in 2020 – the first person to do this virtually with the agency. Antonia Coker, who took part in the Carole Blake Open Doors project earlier this year, is also now working with us part-time as an Office Assistant. It’s a joy to see new entrants to the publishing industry flourish in this way.

We continue to work with Kay Peddle of Kay Peddle Literary, and Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates, selling rights for their clients internationally and we are very pleased to have expanded our associate agent work with Becky Thomas, at her newly established agency, Lewinsohn Literary.

Further in the Book Department, Samuel Hodder is building a strong list of literary clients and Roya Sarrafi-Gohar supports on Isobel and Juliet’s authors. James Pusey is Head of Rights and Hana Murrell is Senior Rights Manager in the translation rights team, selling our authors’ work in many languages around the world.

Julian Friedmann and Conrad Williams, Head of the Film, TV and Theatre Department, are supported by Louisa Minghella, who also represents a number of her own writers. Lizzy Attree is our Office Manager and Ane Reason is our Contracts Manager – having joined us, like Roya, just as the first lockdown began in March 2020.

We’re exceptionally proud of this talented team, who have done such brilliant work for the agency’s clients over the most challenging time during the pandemic. None of this would be possible without our wonderful clients, and we look forward to sharing more of their work with the world, as we take the agency forward with our excellent colleagues into 2022 and beyond.

Avon acquires three more books from bestselling author Sue Moorcroft

Helen Huthwaite, Publishing Director of Avon Books, has acquired WEL rights for three new novels by bestselling author Sue Moorcroft from Juliet Pickering.

Sue Moorcroft says: ‘In Avon, I have a wonderful home for my novels. We work closely and successfully together, and I'm absolutely thrilled we can bring three new books to my readers.’

Juliet Pickering says: ‘After the success of Sue’s UNDER THE ITALIAN SUN and re-publication of A HOME IN THE SUN this summer, I’m so pleased that Avon will be continuing to publish Sue’s fantastic novels. It’s gratifying to see Sue’s enthusiastic readership grow, and we have enjoyed working with the team at Avon to achieve this.’

Helen Huthwaite, Publishing Director says: ‘I couldn’t be happier to see three more wonderful books from Sue set to be published with Avon. Her publishing continues to go from strength to strength thanks to her wonderful storylines and memorable characters, with fans and retailers alike clamouring for more. It will be the greatest pleasure to be able to give them just that!’

Sue’s latest novel with Avon, UNDER THE MISTLETOE, was published in October, and this new deal will take their partnership up to 2023.

Praise for Sue Moorcroft:

‘A delight to read. Full of laughter and tears.’ – Katie Fforde

‘Sue Moorcroft has it all: gorgeous scenery, heartwarming friendships, secrets, twists and turns and a scorching romance.’ — Good Housekeeping

‘Sue’s novels are the perfect escape. You’re guaranteed a warm and sunny read whatever the weather.’ — Bella Osborne

‘Sheer, delicious escapism.’ – Fiona Gibson

‘Effortlessly engaging.’ – Heat

About Sue Moorcroft:

Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary commercial fiction in the vein of Katie Fforde, Trisha Ashley and Carole Matthews. She is a Sunday Times bestselling author, an internationally-bestselling author and has reached #1 in the UK Kindle chart. Her short stories, serials and columns have appeared around the world. Sue is a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner, a past vice chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and editor of its anthologies. Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles, LOVE WRITING, a writing guide, and is a competition judge and creative writing tutor. Her novel A SUMMER TO REMEMBER won the RNA Contemporary Novel of the Year Award 2020.

Visit Sue’s website.

Follow Sue on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

FIONA FORD'S HISTORICAL SERIES, THE GOOD TIME GIRLS, WON AT AUCTION

We are delighted to announce that Fiona Ford has secured a three-book deal with Bonnier’s digital-first imprint, Embla Books. Following an auction, Hannah Smith, editorial director, acquired world English-language rights from Fiona’s agent, Kate Burke. The first title under contract, THE GOOD TIME GIRLS, is set for release in e-book and audio format in spring 2022. The second book in the saga will be published in autumn later that year. 

THE GOOD TIME GIRLS tells the story of four incredible women who come together at the legendary Hammersmith Palais de Danse in the shadow of World War Two. In the face of the Blitz, the show must still go on…

Ford has two other historical sagas to her name, the latest of which was a bestseller published by Penguin Random House under the imprint, Arrow.

Smith said: ‘I’ve long been a fan of Fiona’s historical fiction. She conjures the past brilliantly and her research is second to none. When THE GOOD TIME GIRLS hit my inbox, I was already bursting with excitement and wasn’t disappointed at all. Immediately I was drawn into the strong themes of female friendship and empowerment against the beautiful backdrop of the Hammersmith Palais.’

Ford said: ‘The moment I met the Embla team I knew I wanted to join them. Their passion for books was compelling as was their knowledge, professionalism and sheer dynamism. The whole package was like nothing I had ever found in publishing before and I knew Embla was the perfect home for my new saga series – THE GOOD TIME GIRLS.’

‘The absolute cherry on the cake is that I am now working with Hannah Smith again who is one of the most talented and enthusiastic editors I have ever had the pleasure to know. I can't wait to be a part of the Embla story and am so proud to be a part of their quest for success.’

Praise for Fiona Ford

‘Ford gets to the heart of what it was like to live through the dangerous war years in this warm, captivating, down-to-earth story which is brimming with engaging characters, adventure, romance and heartbreak.’ — Lancashire Post

'A Liberty treasure chest of silks, satin, lace and ribbons with gritty wartime passion at its very core. A gem!' — Daisy Styles, author of the Bomb Girls series

‘A delicious adventure’ — Daily Mail

About the author

Fiona Ford is an experienced freelance journalist and prolific novelist. She has written for weekly women’s magazines for the past fifteen years and is the author of two contemporary novels under the penname Fiona Harrison and six WW2 sagas, published by Orion and Penguin Random House.

Follow Fiona on Twitter

Visit Fiona’s website