We're kicking off this week's DHH News Roundup with the brilliant recent announcement for the Capital Crime line-up, featuring a smörgåsbord of fabulous DHH authors. 

If you nab your ticket for this hotly-anticipated crime festival in September later this year, you can expect to see:



Anita Frank, Brian McGilloway, Chris McGeorge, Clare Whitfield, David Fennell, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, Eve Smith, Graham Bartlett, Marina Palmer (aka Imogen Robertson), M. W. Craven, Paul Burston, Ragnar Jónasson, S. V. Leonard, Stuart Turton, Suzie Edge, Tom Hindle, Victoria Selman and Vikki Patis. 

More names are due to be announced, and with the "who's who" of the literary crime world, this is not to be missed! 

ICYMI, David Fennell appeared on Shine Radio's Talking Books segment last week, to talk about his new book, See No Evil (April 2022, Zaffre Books) and a few other titles in his backlist. 

You can catch up here.

The fourth in M. W. Craven's Washington Poe series, The Botanist, has been snapped up by Modernista in Sweden, the Nordic home of the first three in the series, The Puppet Show, Black Summer and The Curator.

The next picture book by Abi Elphinstone, and illustrated by Fiona Woodcock, has been announced. The Frost Goblin will be released in October 2022 from Simon & Schuster Children's and follows Abi's first picture book, The Snow Dragon (October 2019, S&S Children's).




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​“The deepest frost has the power to rekindle hope in anyone who’s lost it…”

In Bertie Crash-Wallop's noisy family, it can sometimes feel like there is no room for a quiet boy like him. But when Bertie meets a family of goblins on the night of the deepest frost, is it possible he might make some magic and discover his own place in the world?

Join Bertie and the Frost Goblins on an exciting adventure in this beautifully moving story

The independent bookshop, Tea Leaves & Reads has selected Vikki Patis' latest psychological thriller, Return to Blackwater House as their Book of the Month for July. 

The shop boxes up their BOTM with some extra treats pertinent to the story nestled inside. With July's box, you can get:





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• A brand new paperback copy of Return to Blackwater House signed by Vikki Patis.
• Four delicious beverages – A mixture of tea and coffee.
• A Tasty Treat – Meredith & Drew Biscuits (dietary requirements? Let us know at checkout).
• A Beautifully scented wax melt bar from Hampshire Candles.
• A Bookish Postcard – perfect for framing or displaying in your home!
• A hand poured wax seal to finish it all off – great for keeping and putting in a journal or scrapbook as decoration!

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Vengeance is the next in R. C. Bridgestock's DI Charley Mann series (September 2022, Canelo) and the last week, the cover was revealed...

Another cover reveal for you, and this time for the paperback of Tom Hindle's debut novel, A Fatal Crossing (August 2022, Century):

Orion Fiction has scooped two more thrillers by Carys Jones, author of We Are All Liars and The List, with the first, She Had It Coming, scheduled for publication in January 2023. 

Editorial director Rhea Kurien acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the two books from Emily Glenister at D H H Literary Agency, describing She Had It Coming as a “cracking thriller full of twists and turns”.

“I just know thriller readers are going to love She Had It Coming,” she said. “Heather is the girl everyone loves to hate … so whose side will you take? The victim’s or the killer’s?” 

The synopsis reads: “When Pippa’s best friend goes missing on a school run, no one thinks twice. Heather is pretty, popular and more than a little wild. Some say girls like her always get what’s coming to them. Pippa’s mother, Abbie, has never liked Heather. Or her mother Michelle, a successful doctor who thinks she’s too good for the school mums’ group.

“But when Heather turns up dead, everything changes. Because Pippa was the last person to see Heather alive... and now Abbie’s own house of cards is about to come tumbling down.”

Jones said she was “so excited” to be working with Orion again, thanking Kurien for helping turn She Had It Coming into “such a sinister and satisfying read, one I can’t wait to share with readers”. 
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Glenister added: “Carys is a dream of an author to work with; so full of imagination and stories. She also has a deliciously dark mind, which I love and I cannot wait to see her star continue to rise with Orion.”

Congratulations to Thomas Mogford, who last week saw his latest novel, The Plant Hunter, longlisted for the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation Prize 2022. 

​Launched in September 2015, the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation is a charitable organisation dedicated to empowering young writers, the advancement of the adventure writing genre and the promotion of literacy. The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is an international prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English.

Awards are presented in three categories: Best Published Novel, Best Unpublished Manuscript and Author of Tomorrow. 

​Winners will be announced on the 21st September 2022.

To celebrate the publication of M. W. Craven's forthcoming The Botanist, both Mike and clients R. C. Bridgestock will all be appearing at the Crime At the Old Courts event in Wigan, on Saturday 11th June, for an afternoon of conversation with some of the most respected and bestselling authors in the genre.

Author conversation will be held from 12-6pm, and tickets are £15 (£30 to include a hardback copy of The Botanist). 

For more information and to book your tickets, click here.

Tania Crosse has signed a new contract with Joffe Books for the tenth novel in her Devon saga series. 

All nine books in the series are only 99p - £1.99 on Kindle, so now is the perfect time to get caught up...!

Two fabulous paperbacks were published from the DHH stable last week:

• Commander by Paul Fraser Collard (Headline)
• The Long Road From Kandahar by Sara MacDoSara MacDonaldnald (HarperCollins)

If you're in the mood for pure escapist fiction, then you really couldn't get better than these two fantastic page-turners.

A little bit of rights sales news for you now...

The latest two books in M. W. Craven's Washington Poe series, Dead Ground and The Botanist, have been acquired for the Spain by Roca Editorial, the home of the first three in the series. 

Jo Thomas' glorious Escape to the French Farmhouse has been picked up by Forlaget Zara in Denmark. 

The cover for the paperback of Sarah Bonner's runaway debut, Her Perfect Twin, has been revealed and we cannot wait to see it hit shelves in July later this year. 

Finally, congratulations to two superb clients, who have been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger Awards 2022:
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• Dead Ground by M. W. Craven (Ian Fleming Steel Dagger)
• When I Grow Up in the 'Afraid of the Shadows' Anthology by Robert Scragg (Short Story Dagger)

​Winners will be announced at the CWA Gala Dinner on Wednesday 29th June. Congratulations, both!

Thomas Mogford's novel, The Plant Hunter, has been longlisted for the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation Prize 2022. 

​Launched in September 2015, the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation is a charitable organisation dedicated to empowering young writers, the advancement of the adventure writing genre and the promotion of literacy. The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is an international prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English.

Awards are presented in three categories: Best Published Novel, Best Unpublished Manuscript and Author of Tomorrow. 

​Winners will be announced on the 21st September 2022.

We are very happy to be kicking this week's DHH News Roundup off with a look at the final hardback cover for Victoria Selman's forthcoming Truly, Darkly, Deeply (July 2022, Quercus).

Staying with Victoria Selman, a very exciting event has been announced, to celebrate the book's publication. 

On Tuesday 12th July, Victoria will be appearing 'in conversation' with Before I Got To Sleep author, S. J. Watson. 

The event will take place at the Brighton branch of Goldsboro Books and tickets can be bought here.

Last week, we received the fantastic news that client Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is the No.1 bestselling hardback author in Iceland for Þú sérð mig ekki (You Don't See Me).

The second in Eva's Forbidden Iceland series, Girls Who Lie, was recently longlisted for the CWA Dagger Awards in the 'Crime Fiction in Translation' category.

Congratulations, Eva!

And finally, a huge congratulations to three DHH clients, all of whom have been longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award:

• M. W. Craven for Dead Ground
• Brian McGilloway for Blood Ties
• Stuart Turton for The Devil and the Dark Water

The award celebrates excellence, originality, and the very best in crime fiction from UK and Irish authors. A highlight in the literary calendar, past winners include Denise Mina, Steve Cavanagh, Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre. Awarded annually as part of Harrogate International Festivals’ Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, the winner of the most wanted accolade in crime fiction receives a cheque for £3000, and an engraved oak beer cask, hand-carved by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakstons Brewery.

​Voting is open now!

Congratulations to our clients, M. W. Craven, Brian McGilloway and Stuart Turton, all of whom have been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

To kick the month off to an excellent start, we have a plethora of excellent books included in May's Kindle Monthly Deal, and available to buy for a fraction of their usual price!

Simply click on the cover above to take you straight to the deal.

Brian McGilloway's recent release, The Empty Room, has picked up a fantastic review from the Irish Independent:

"An utterly gripping and propulsive read, as one would expect from one of Ireland's finest thriller writers." 

The cover for Paul Fraser Collard's new Jack Lark book, Diamond Hunter​ (October 2022, Headline)​, was revealed last week:

Four fabulous Agency books were published last week - congratulations to our clients!

• Outside by Ragnar Jónasson (hardback - Michael Joseph)
• See No Evil by David Fennell (hardback - Zaffre Books)
• The Dying Squad by Adam Simcox (paperback - Gollancz)
• The Wednesday Morning Wild Swim by Jules Wake (eBooks - One More Chapter)

We are delighted to be welcoming two new clients to the Agency this week: Jennifer Jones joins Broo Doherty's list, while Stephen Edger's joins Emily Glenister. 

To read more about these exciting signings, simply click on the names above.

Finally, it was revealed over the weekend that client Ragnar Jónasson and fellow crime heavyweight, Anthony Horowitz, have teamed up to write a theatre play together. 

The play will be set in a bookshop and feature just four suspects, taking inspiration from Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap.

Watch this space for more on this deadly​ exciting news!

​We’re kicking off this week’s news roundup with the brilliant news that four of DHH’s clients have been longlisted for the CWA Dagger Awards 2022!

​When I Grow Up, the contribution from Robert Scragg, for the crime anthology, Afraid of the Shadows has been longlisted for the Short Story Dagger.
 
The debut novel from Femi Kayode, Lightseekers, is on the longtlist for the CWA Gold Dagger.
 
Dead Ground, the latest in M. W. Craven’s bestselling Washington Poe series is longlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.
 
And finally, Girls Who Lie, the incredible second novel from Eva Björg Ægisdóttir in the Icelandic-set crime thriller, starring DI Elma, is on the longlist for the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
 
Much deserved and huge congratulations to you all!

​Adam Simcox, the author of The Dying Squad and forthcoming book, The Generation Killer, starring Detective Joe Lazarus, will be in conversation with fellow author Nadine Matheson (The Jigsaw Man) over on Instagram Live on Wednesday 27th April at 7pm GMT.

​The cover for the new Anna Jacobs standalone, Kirsty’s Vineyard, was revealed last week and it is a total beauty; perfect to get us in the mood for spring and summer.
 
In the aftermath of a heart-breaking accident, Kirsty is shocked to discover that she has inherited a vineyard in Western Australia from Ed James, a lonely old man she befriended at the library. But there is a condition to his legacy: Kirsty must give up her quiet life in England for at least one year.
 
How will a shy librarian cope on her own in a strange country? As she is forced to take her life off hold, one thing is certain, Kirsty’s life is about to change forever.
 
The book will be published in May 2022, from Allison & Busby.

​It was publication day for Mike Hollow and the next in his Blitz Detective series, The Pimlico Murder, which was released in paperback last week.
 
Armistic Day, 1940. The nation remembers the Great War while a new and harrowing conflict rumbles on. The Blitz Detective, John Jago, must set aside his own painful memories to investigate a suspicious death in Pimlico, south-west London. The body of a young man has been discovered in an Anderson shelter, with two white poppies in his pocket.
 
As the investigation progresses, Jago and his assistant, DC Craddock, find themselves knee-deep in Pimlico’s shady underworld and connections with Mosley’s fascist party. It will take all their skills to uncover the truth behind the young man’s brutal death.
 
Order your copy here.

​Finally, we are delighted to be able to announce that the second book from Eleanor Tattersfield, Sex Secrets, will be published by Batsford (part of Pavilion Books) in September 2022.
 
Eleanor’s first book, Lockdown Secrets, was published in 2021 and was based on a collection of anonymous postcards sent to her during lockdown.
 
Sex Secrets, returns to the postcard format to reveal people’s “salacious, scurrilous and very definitely saucy” secrets.
 
To read the full press release, click here.

Batsford has secured Sex Secrets: Postcards from the Bed, which sees Eleanor Tattersfield turn her attention to the nation’s sex habits.  

Tina Persaud, publishing director, acquired world rights from David Headley at D H H Literary Agency. Sex Secrets will be published in September 2022.  

“Eleanor is a force of nature,” said Persaud. “She loves to share the saucy, sexy and shocking in the most beautiful way.” 

Tattersfield hit the scene in 2021 with her Lockdown Secrets project in 2021 which was covered by Channel 4 News and the BBC. She is also the proprietor of Marby & Elm, a London print and stationery shop.  

Sex Secrets returns to the postcard format of Lockdown Secrets (Pavilion Books) to reveal people’s “salacious, scurrilous and very definitely saucy” secrets.
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Tattersfield added: “Organically leading on from the heavily salacious content of Lockdown Secrets, Sex Secrets seemed to be its natural (bedfellow!) follow-up, and boy, was that right! Again, as people anonymously send in their postcards the level of creativity and candour continues to astound but ultimately connects us to every person who reveals their truth. We turn out not to be as prudish a nation as we may have been led to believe.”

​From The Bookseller article | Katie Fraser

This week, we were very excited to see that James Goodhand's new book, Man Down, was featured on one of TikTok's most influential "BookTokkers", Jack Ben Edwards. 

Released in March this year, Man Down is a searingly powerful exploration of toxic masculinity - an important read. Get your copy here.

​Will Parks needs to man up.

A man stands. A man fights. A man bleeds.

These are the first lessons you learn in a town where girls are objects, words are weak and fists do the talking.

Will's more at home in the classroom than the gym, and the most important woman in his life is his gran. So how can a boy who's always backed away from a fight become the hero who saves the day?

Because a disaster is coming. One that Will can prevent. But only if he learns the most important lesson of all: sometimes to step up, you have to man down.

Released this week, The Cutting Season by M. W. Craven, is part of The Reading Agency's Quick Reads 2022 scheme. 

​Poe's just hanging around on a Saturday afternoon...

Dangling from a hook in a meat packing plant isn't how Detective Sergeant Washington Poe wants to spend his weekend. He's been punched and kicked and threatened, and when a contract killer arrives it seems things are about to go from bad to worse. He goes by the name of the Pale Man and he and his straight-edged razor have been feared all over London for twenty years.

But Poe knows two things the Pale Man doesn't. Although it might seem like a hopeless situation, Poe has planned to be here all along. More importantly, a nerdy, computer whizz-kid called Tilly Bradshaw is watching his back. And now things are about to get interesting...

A part of the well-loved Washington Poe series, it is available to buy on Amazon for just £1!

Also published this week was the debut historical mystery from Victoria Hawthorne (also known as psychological suspense author, Vikki Patis) - The House at Helygen, available now in hardback, eBook and audio. 

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​An atmospheric historical suspense novel rich with familial secrets. The House at Helygen is a twisted tale of dark pasts, murderous presents and uncertain futures.

2019

When Henry Fox is found dead in his ancestral home in Cornwall, the police rule it a suicide, but his pregnant wife, Josie, believes it was murder. Desperate to make sense of Henry's death she embarks on a quest to learn the truth, all under the watchful eyes of Henry's overbearing mother. Josie soon finds herself wrestling against the dark history of Helygen House and ghosts from the past that refuse to stay buried.

1881

New bride Eliza arrives at Helygen House with high hopes for her marriage. Yet when she meets her new mother-in-law, an icy and forbidding woman, her dreams of a new life are dashed. And when Eliza starts to hear voices in the walls of the house, she begins to fear for her sanity and her life.

Can Josie piece together the past to make sense of her present, or will the secrets of Helygen House and its inhabitants forever remain a mystery?

Finally, the US cover for Heather Darwent's January 2023 debut, The Things We Do To Our Friends​, was revealed this week. 

What is the cost of an extraordinary life if others have to pay? Reimagining the classic themes of obsession and striving with an original and sinister edge, The Things We Do to Our Friends is a seductive thriller about the toxic battle between those who have, and those who covet - between the desire to truly belong, and the danger of being truly known.

The book is available to pre-order now for readers on that side of the pond - stay tuned for UK cover reveal and pre-order info...​