The paperback for Jo Thomas' latest book, Escape to the French Farmhouse was published this week and to celebrate, Jo was kept a busy lady!

First up, the book went straight in to Sainsburys, Tesco and Morrisons stores, as well as Asda stores as part of their Tickled Pink range, supporting the work of breast cancer charities. If you're in your local supermarket and spot the book, why not snap a photo and tweet it to Jo (@jo_thomas01)?

CultureFly selected the book as one of their Top Ten Books for August. You can view the entire list here.

Jo has also written a piece for Female First on the important of food and eating together - two staples that are prevalent in Jo's warm and sunny books. You can read the article here. 

Finally, MyWeekly (who also chose Escape to the French Farmhouse as one of their 3 Sizzling Romance Reads) caught up with Jo in a fun Q&A where she talks about her love of food and travelling - plus catch a sneak peek of what you can expect from Jo's next novel, Finding Love at the Christmas Market.

Another piece of wonderful news for The Storm, as well as Brian McGilloway's The Last Crossing, Eve Smith's The Waiting Rooms and M.W. Craven's The Curator - all four have been longlisted for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2020. 

Voting to determine the shortlist is open now and you can cast your votes here (make sure to read the instructions carefully!).

Micaiah Johnson's debut SFF novel The Space Between Worlds was published this week (Hodder Scape). 

This is a superbly clever book set across multiple dimensions, and takes a deep, speculative look at our place in society, and the privilege that comes with it. ​Get your copy here.

Also published this week was Una-Mary Parker's Granville trilogy (eBook), recently acquired by Canelo, and given brand new covers. 

Dramatic and glamorous, you'll want to lose yourself in the tumultuous lives of the Granville sisters, Juliet and Rosie. The Granville Sisters, The Granville Affair and The Granville Legacy are available to download now. 

The first in G.S. Locke's new series, Neon, has garnered a brilliant review from CrimeTime and we're pleased as punch!

"The uncommon combination of cop and hit woman works well and the dynamic between the two proves fascinating with Iris showing wonderfully amoral Lisbeth Salander and Villanelle touches alongside a meticulous investigative process full of twists and fast running action. A definite page-turner with a particular poignant ending, this manages to give a tired sub-genre some new life (and crimes...)." 

​You can read the full review here.

Israeli rights to Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's debut novel The Creak on the Stairs have been sold to Lesa Press. This makes the fourth territory the book has been sold in since its publication in March this year. 

A cracking Icelandic noir crime novel that will have you turning the pages well into the night.

Wishing our clients HUGE congratulations on being longlisted for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2020. 

In amongst the 210-strong list are:

The Curator by M.W. Craven (Constable & Robinson, June 2020)

The Storm by Amanda Jennings (HQ, July 2020)

The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway (Dome Press, April 2020)

The Waiting Rooms by Eve Smith (Orenda Books, July 2020)

Voting is now open to determine the shortlist, and you can cast yours here.

To celebrate the publication of her June title, A Perfect Cornish Escape, Phillipa Ashley spoke to the Dundee Courier about the dramatic landscapes where she traditionally likes to set her books. 

The book also celebrated its second week running at No.1 on the Heatseekers chart - congratulations, Phillipa!

Amanda Jennings' The Storm is whipping up a... well, storm!

Landing straight in at no.19 on the Heatseekers chart, it also picked up a fantastic review in this week's heat magazine:

"This deftly tackles the the issues surrounding coercive control in a way that feels both authentic and surprising, while the twists and turns just keep on coming." 

Perfect for this beautiful weather we've been having, Kate Mallinder's Summer of No Regrets only £1.99 as part of Kobo's Summer Sale, running 1st - 15th August.

Her second book Asking For A Friend is also featured in the last issue of Shout magazine as one of their Shout Picks. 

The latest in Joanna Toye's Shop Girls series, Heartache for the Shop Girls is only 99p as part of the Kindle August Monthly Deal.

Erin Green's New Beginnings at Rose Cottage is also rocking an eBook deal, this time in the Kindle August Monthly Deal. 

Erin was also interviewed by blogger Kim Nash over on Facebook about her writing journey, and what she likes to get up to in her spare time. Click this link to see more.

Over on BBC Radio 4 this week, Jennifer Lucy Allan presented a "lyrical eulogy to foghorns". 

​You can catch up here.

While the eBook for Carys Jones' The List was released earlier in July, the paperback is due out in October and we cannot wait for this nail-biting psychological thriller to hit shelves. Author Lisa Hall has dubbed it "Brilliant... I couldn't put it down."

And Alison Bruce's forthcoming The Moment Before Impact has picked up this brilliant quote from Elly Griffiths:

"A powerful and absorbing story that stayed with me long after I’d finished reading. A writer at the top of her game."

Finally, Georgia Kaufmann's hotly-anticipated debut The Dressmaker of Paris (Hodder, January 2021) has been given a couple of brilliant endorsements in the last week:

"​The Dressmaker of Paris by Georgia Kaufmann is a delicious book: elegantly structured, beautifully written and with a fascinating protagonist. I was completely absorbed in Rosa’s story and rooting for her throughout her long journey from teenage victim to world famous businesswoman. In The Dressmaker of Paris, Georgia Kaufmann has created a beautiful and compelling novel that had me hooked until the very last page. And that ending: wow!"
Gill Thompson

"Involving, immersive and unputdownable, I raced through it!"
Jill Mansell

Stay tuned for more news on this very exciting release, soon!

The first two Blitz Detective stories by Mike Hollow were published this week. 

The Blitz Detective and The Canning Town Murders will take you straight in to the heart of London's Blitz and the head of Inspector John Jago. 

Intricately plotted and endlessly clever, we couldn't recommend this wartime crime series enough. 

Also published this week was ​Amanda Jennings' new book, The Storm. 

Taut and a total page-turner, it has picked up some brilliant endorsements over the last week:

"This tale set in atmospheric Cornwall will chill your blood."
Sunday Mirror





​"The best-selling Jennings tackles the issue of coercive control in this absorbing tale of a woman trapped in a marriage she never wanted in the first place."
i Newspaper

"Exploring themes of coercive control, this gripping novel is chilling yet compelling."
Sun on Sunday, Fabulous magazine

"Jennings deftly transports you to two wildly contrasting worlds... Chilling, thought-provoking and utterly compelling." WI 

"I devoured it in three days and couldn't put it down... dynamic, spectacularly paced and tragic in places that'll have you hook, line and sinker." Daily Record

"A thought-provoking, suspenseful thriller." Candis

"The darkness of this tale of a toxic marriage repels and draws you in equal measure." Woman​

Amanda appeared on TalkRadio on Sunday 26th July to talk to Penny Smith about The Storm, as part of their Book Club, and you can catch up here (09.30-10am slot, 18minutes in).

Not only that, it stormed in to the Top 100 Amazon bestsellers pre-publication. Congratulations, Amanda!

We were thrilled with the news that bestselling author Clare Mackintosh has selected James Goodhand's YA debut novel, Last Lesson, as her August Book Club Pick. 

​Clare and her Book Club will be discussing the novel from August and you can join in the discussion here. Additionally, if you are in the first 50 to order a copy from Simply Books, you will also receive a signed bookplate.

Phillipa Ashley has written a short story for Candis​' magazine's August issue.

Star of the Show follows Kerren as she attempts to navigate the not-entirely-unwelcome advances of a well-known actor... Set in glorious Penzance, allow Phillipa to whisk you away for a few pages of Cornish bliss.

Phillipa's new novel, A Perfect Cornish Escape, is out now and we were greeted with brilliant news on Friday just gone: the book has climbed to the very top of the Bookseller's Heatseekers Chart for Fiction! A fantastic achievement - congratulations, Phillipa!

And finally, the gorgeous cover for Clare Whitfield's debut People Of Abandoned Character (Head of Zeus, October 2020) has been revealed. 

This is a superb and dark historical crime novel that follows Susannah as she wrestles with the creeping suspicion that her new husband, Thomas - a man whose behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and violent, staying out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets - might just be the man the police are calling Jack the Ripper...

We are delighted that James Goodhand's YA debut, Last Lesson, has been selected by bestselling author Clare Mackintosh as her August Book Club Pick. 

Clare and her Book Club will be discussing the novel from August and you can join in the discussion here. Additionally, if you are in the first 50 to order a copy from Simply Books, you will also receive a signed bookplate.

G.S. Locke - or Eve Seymour - wrote a piece for Shots Mag on those unlikely crime-solving partners, and the moral ambiguity of her characters.

It's a brilliant read, and really interesting for all you crime fans out there.

​Click this link to read! Eve's latest book, and her first as G.S. Locke, Neon, is out NOW, and was this week, given a fantastic review in the Daily Mail:

"Vivid and stylish, it rushes along like a rollercoaster...'' To read the full review, click here.

In more G.S. Locke news, the cover for her next page-turning thriller, Six​, was revealed! Keep your eyes peeled for more to come on this brilliant second outing, out March 2021...

Six secrets.
Two murders.
​Who's next?

Congratulations to Amy Beashel, who last week, saw the US publication of her debut YA novel, The Sky Is Mine. 

In addition, author Jennifer Niven (All the Bright Places, Holding Up the Universe) tweeted her support for the book, after having previously chosen it as one of her picks for 2019.

Eve Smith's debut dystopian thriller, The Waiting Rooms, has been very busy this week! First up, it was chosen as one of the Scotland Herald's Best Summer Reads for 2020.

Next, The Literary Review included the book in their July/August 2020 Crime Roundup, dubbing it "both terrifying and topical... Coming at a time when the world is scrambling for a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, this novel makes for alarming reading."

Finally, Waterstones included it in their Compelling New Crime Fiction roundup: "Spookily prescient and and chillingly credible, Smith's vision of an antibiotic crisis grips from the very first page."

Out this week is Amanda Jennings' new tense and emotional thriller, The Storm, and Best magazine has picked up a fantastic review from Best magazine:

"For fans of Broadchurch... this searing depiction of coercive control and lost love will chill your bones."

​You can pre-order your copy here.

Finally, Abi Elphinstone's Rumblestar, the first in her Unmapped Chronicles series, has been given a fabulous makeover, with a brand new cover! The other books in the series, Everdark and Jungledrop will also be receiving a new look - all to be revealed soon...

Congratulations to our fab clients, G.S. Locke and Eve Smith! Both had books published this week, respectively.

To order your copy, click the image below.

The blog tour for Neon was off to a flying start with The Bookwormery Blog saying:

"I found Neon to be a unique, hugely entertaining thriller…it’s dark, gritty and violent with a twisted serial killer too. A clever plot will keep you hooked from start to gasp inducing finish. Brilliant."

The Waiting Rooms was reviewed in an edition of last week's Guardian, and we couldn't be more thrilled:

"Smith combines the excitement of a medical thriller à la Michael Crichton with sensitive characterisation and social insight in a timely debut novel all the more remarkable for being conceived and written before the current pandemic."

Amanda Jennings spoke to Cornwall Life magazine about some of her favourite Cornish spots. 

Like The Cliff House, The Storm, Amanda's new novel (out later this month) is set in Cornwall, against the backdrop of a fishing port and is guaranteed to thrill you.

​Pre-order here.

Woman & Home published their 'Best Thriller Books of 2020', and making it on to the list was M.W. Craven's latest Tilly & Poe venture, The Curator. To see the full W&H list, click here.

This week, the Daily Express also had wonderful things to say about the book:

"Poe and Bradshaw are wonderful creations and it's a joy to spend more time with them in this gloriously dark and twisted thriller... another hugely enjoyable and compelling mystery."



​There's a sadistic serial killer in Cumbria, and he delights in leaving body parts around for unfortunate people to stumble upon. They call him The Curator...

My Perfect Wife, the nail-biting psychological thriller from Clare Boyd has landed at No.7 in the Australian Kindle Bestseller charts. 

This is an unputdownable page-turner about the darker side of love, and explores just how far we are willing to go for it...

It is also included in July's Kindle Monthly Deal, in Canada / USA as well as the UK, for onlu 99p... Click here to get your copy.

Legendary documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog (Aguirre, Wrath of God, Nosferatu, the Vampyr) was interviewed by Luke Turner for The Quietus, a website founded by Luke in 2008 that has grown to become one of the most well-respected online outlets for the critiquing and discussion of the arts. You can read the interview here.

Finally, we're immensely proud of our colleague, Harry Illingworth, who has been named as one of The Bookseller's 2020 Rising Stars. 

Harry joined the Agency full-time in 2019, after having split his time between there and at Goldsboro Books since 2013. He represents some of today's most exciting genre authors including  Stuart Turton (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle), Anna Stephens ​(Godblind) and David Wragg ​(The Black Hawks). To see Harry's full client list, and to see what he is looking for, click here.

Congratulations, Harry!

Looking for your next read this summer? Amazon Kindle's got you covered. These five fantastic books are included in the Kindle Monthly Deal for July, where you can get up to 70% off the RRP.

​Simply click on the book to take you to the link!

Canelo have snapped up rights to Una-Mary Parker's Granville trilogy (beginning with The Granville Sisters) ​and the covers were revealed last week. 

This dramatic and enthralling saga series, set against the backdrop of WW2, is one juicy read and you can pre-order your eCopies here (released 3rd August).

We spied the delightfully festive cover for Christmas for the Shop Girls by Joanna Toye, and it's already got us in the mood for the holiday season!

The book joins A Store At War, Wartime for the Shop Girls and Heartache for the Shop Girls, and will be released on 29th October (pre-order here).

Joanna also featured on RNIB Radio on Friday 3rd July to discuss her books. You can catch up here.

Congratulations to Amy Beashel, whose debut YA novel The Sky Is Mine has been shortlisted for the Bristol Teen Book Award 2020.

The award is organised by librarians, teachers and students and is aimed at celebrating diversity in young adult fiction. 

The winner will be announced on 11th February 2021.

The eBook of Carys Jones' The List was published last week, and picked up a fantastic quote from author Adam Hamdy along the way:

"The List is a sharp psychological thriller. A captivating premise and an engrossing read. Carys Jones deliver twists and turns that will keep you hooked to the very last page."

The paperback is due for publication in October 2020.

The next book from Amanda Jennings, The Storm, is out later this month, and MyWeekly has reviewed it pre-publication in their latest issue:

"Will keep you gripped in its clutches until the very last page."

Amanda was also interviewed in July's Crime Monthly on what influences her writing. The issue is out and available to buy now!

Finally, we were delighted to see James Goodhand's debut YA novel Last Lesson selected as one of Suzi Feay's best mid-year reads for young adults in the Financial Times.

We were delighted that all of Brian McGilloway's Inspector Benedict Devlin novels were rereleased last week, in eBook, complete with brand new covers. 

Little, Brown imprint Constable & Robinson acquired World English Language (exc. USA and Canada) from David Headley - meaning this fantastic and dark series, set in the borderlands between Northern and Southern Ireland, has a new lease of life with new readers. 

The paperbacks are due to follow next year, but in the meantime, you can purchase all five on your eReader.

As of the 25th June, Phillipa Ashley's most recent summery getaway novel, A Perfect Cornish Escape, will be available in 420 Asda stores!

The book is also available in all Sainsburys stores until next week, and selected Tesco stores, across the country.

It's official! The proofs are in for Stuart Turton's second novel, The Devil and the Dark Water (October 2020, Bloomsbury Raven). 

Stuart is the author of the Costa Award-winning The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and this second book is highly anticipated. 

An impossible murder.
A remarkable detective duo.
A demon who may or may not exist...

The book has already been sold in nine territories pre-publication, with Polish and Korean rights going to Wydawnictwo Albatros and Daewon Cl respectively, just this week.

The cover for Femi Kayode's debut novel Lightseekers has been revealed. 

- -​
Three young students are brutally murdered in a Nigerian university town, their killings - and their killers - caught on social media. The world knows who murdered them; what no one knows is why.

As the legal trial begins, investigative psychologist Philip Taiwo is contacted by the father of one of the boys, desperate for some answers to his son's murder. Philip is an expert in crowd behaviour and violence but travelling to the sleepy university town that bore witness to the killings, he soon feels dramatically out of his depth. Years spent first studying, then living in the US with his wife and children mean he is unfamiliar with many Nigerian customs and no one involved in the case seems willing to speak out.

The more Philip digs, and the more people he meets with a connection to the case, the more he begins to realise that there is something very wrong concealed somewhere in this community.
- -

​This is a sharp, thrilling and dark series that we know crime fans are going to go head over heels for. The book is available to pre-order now (February 2021).

Lovely to see Jo Thomas' books given a well-deserved mention in this month's Prima magazine:

"You can almost smell the locations in Jo Thomas' books, from lemon groves in Sicily to lavender fields in Provence."

Jo's latest book, Escape to the French Farmhouse, is out now in eBook and is a best seller! The paperback will follow in July.

The Mist, the third in Ragnar Jónasson's Hidden Iceland trilogy, continues to garner fantastic praise, including from the other side of the Atlantic, as the book published this week in America:

"If you're looking for a fictional good fright to distract you from the real ones, look no further than this third entry... The talented Jónasson backs up two months to portray - with the precision of Harold Pinter - two complex marriages... On a couple of occasions, Hermansdóttir shrieks with horror, and reads will, too."
​Washington Post

"He deals in vertiginous, unputdownable stories that are nevertheless still imbued with melancholy and heartbreak. This, the third of his series featuring downbeat female policewoman Hulda Hermannsdóttir, is his best yet."
​Metro

"... it will absolutely grab you and fully engross you in Hulda’s world that Jónasson has created. It is no exaggeration to say that as soon as I finished this book, I immediately started ordering more form this author."
​The Nerd Daily

Finally, we have a lovely cover reveal courtesy of Jules Wake. 

Jules' next book, The Saturday Morning Park Run, will be published in eBook in August 2020 and October in paperback. 

- -
​This is the story of two women.
One old, one young.
One looking for new adventures. One looking for a purpose.
Both needing a friend.

And this is how, along with two little girls in need of a family, a gorgeous stranger, and a scruffy dog, they bring the whole community together every Saturday morning for love, laughter and a little bit of running…(well, power walking).

Some people come into your life when you need them the most.
- -