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. 

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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. 

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​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.
- -

We're kicking off this week's news roundup with the lovely news that two more Shop Girls books, by Joanna Toye, have been snapped up by HarperCollins, in a deal negotiated by Broo Doherty.

While the titles are TBC, the books will follow the first three books in the saga series (A Store At War, Wartime for the Shop Girls and Heartache for the Shop Girls). 

In other fab news for Joanna, ​having hit No. 13 in last week's Heatseekers chart for Heartache, she is still holding her own at No. 19 and is still in the top twenty for the third week running.

Having steadily climbed the charts since its release on the 7th May, the latest getaway book from Jo Thomas, Escape to the French Farmhouse, hit the No.1 bestselling eBook spot over the weekend (we definitely celebrated with some croissants)!

It was also at the top No.1 spot for 'Holiday Fiction', 'Contemporary Romance' and 'Women's Action & Adventure Fiction'. Absolutely brilliant!

To get everyone through lockdown, MyWeekly have released a compilation of warm, positive fiction from some of romance reader's favourite authors, and our Jo is a contributor. Pick up your copy here.

The fourth in L.C. Tyler's Elsie and Ethelred series, Herring on the Nile, has been given a lovely review from blogger Northern Reader:

"This is a very enjoyable book full of incident  and reflection on who is exactly who among a closed community of passengers... I recommend this book for its wit and more; it is a very enjoyable read on many levels." To read the full review, click here.

Tyler's books are a brilliant pick-me-up - don't believe us? Try them for yourself...

Until the end of the day today (22nd June), you can snap up any one of these three books for only 99p, as part of Kobo's Father's Day promo. Click on the image below to take you to the deal.

M.W. Craven appeared in this month's Deadly Pleasures magazine, with all three of his Washington Poe books covered. 

Click this link to see the article.

The Creak On the Stairs, the debut novel from Icelandic author Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, has been reviewed by the Financial Times' Barry Forshaw:

"​We’re used to Icelandic writers lowering the temperature — in more ways than one — and Ægisdóttir proves to be adept at this chilly art as any of her confrères (and consoeurs).Elma is a memorably complex character, and Victoria Cribb’s translation is(as usual) non-pareil."

We couldn't be more thrilled with this fantastic endorsement!

When a woman's body is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, investigators discover shocking secrets in her past...

Yesterday evening (Sunday 21st June), client Luke Turner appeared on BBC1's Countryfile to discuss Epping Forest, its past and wildlife and how it is looked after.

The Forest was a poignant and prominent feature in Luke's his 2019 debut non-fiction memoir, Out of the Woods.

If you missed it, you can catch up here.

Secondly, we are delighted to reveal that Orenda Books will be publishing the sixth, and final, in the Dark Iceland series, starring Detective Ari Thór. 

Winterkill is due for publication in December 2020, and we head back to Siglufjörður, where the body of a young girl is found on the town's main street, prompting a dangerous hunt - in a violent snowstorm - for her killer. But once the truth is revealed, nothing in Siglufjörður will be the same ever again.

The next in Julie Caplin's Romantic Escapes series, The Little Teashop In Tokyo, was published this week and it is utterly gorgeous.

If you have yet to introduce yourself to these books, you've got some catching up to do, as this is her sixth one, following: The Little Cafe In Copenhagen, The Little Brooklyn Bakery, The Little Paris Patisserie, The Northern Lights Lodge and The Secret Cove In Croatia.

As a lot of you know, Julie Caplin is a pseudonym used by author Jules Wake, who this week signed with HarperCollins' One More Chapter, for a further SEVEN books! The Tokyo book is the first of the seven, and the deal includes Jules' first historical novel, The Secrets of Latimer House​.

In more Julie Caplin / Jules Wake news, titles for both have been sold to Slovakia:

• Notting Hill in the Snow to Akutell
• The Little Brooklyn Bakery & The Little Paris Patisserie to Grada

Congrats Jules / Julie!

Also published this week, was the third in Phillipa Ashley's Porthmellow Harbour series, A Perfect Cornish Escape, which went straight in at No.3 on the Heatseekers Chart!

As its name suggests, this is the perfect slice of escapism (especially now, when going on holiday seems like a lovely dream). 

In addition to all good bookstores, and online, the book is available, from 11th June, in all Sainsburys, for four weeks, at only £2.99, as part of their Recommended For You promo.

In this week's issue of MyWeekly, Phillipa has also written a short story, The Merry Maidens, drawing on the local Cornish myth that nineteen maidens were turned to stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. A beautiful and engaging read, pick up your copy now!

A Perfect Cornish Escape and M.W. Craven's The Curator were selected by Women's Weekly as part of their Book Club choices!

A Perfect Cornish Escape
"With intriguing backstories and a gorgeous setting, this joyful love story is the tonic for us all right now."

The Curator
"Jaw-droppingly shocking and intense, there's no escaping this novel's tense narrative and tightly woven mystery."

Noir from the Bar, an Anthology consisting of 30 stories by crime and mystery writers from all over the world, was published last week and we are thrilled that client Eve Smith is a contributor. Eve is the author of speculative thriller, The Waiting Rooms (available now in eBook and published in paperback on 9th July 2020).





​All the stories have been donated free-of-charge from authors, and all proceeds are to go to NHS charities. There's lots to suit every appetite, including:

• Locked room mystery
• Gritty noir
• Cozy capers
• Psychological thrillers
• Twist-in-the-tales
• Revenge dramas
• Shocking shorts
• Longer dramas to savour

You can get your copy now by clicking this link.

Hodder has snapped up three more books from Anna Jacobs, in a deal negotiated by Broo Doherty. 

Anna's new series will set in the 1930s, around a lake in the Pennines. 

Also, in more Anna Jacobs news, L'Archipel in France have bought rights to her Irish Sisters trilogy: A Pennyworth of Sunshine, Twopenny Rainbows and Threepenny Dreams.

A Widow's Courage, Anna's latest novel in the Birch End series, is out now.

Finally, we were delighted to see that Ragnar Jónasson's The Darkness has landed at No.2 on Germany's Der Spiegel list, and sees the highest ranking of any Icelandic novel in Germany since 2005. 

The Darkness is the first in Ragnar's DI Hulda Hermansdóttir series, with The Island and The Mist following, and both available to buy now.

HarperCollins’ digital first division, One More Chapter, has landed seven new titles by Jules Wake, who also writes as Julie Caplin.

Editorial director Charlotte Ledger acquired world all language rights from Broo Doherty at the DHH Literary Agency.

As well as continuing the author’s Romantic Escapes series, with The Little Teashop in Tokyo publishing next week, the deal also sees the author's first historical novel, The Secrets of Latimer House, inspired by the women who carried out covert operations at Latimer House, which housed German prisoners during the Second World War, in Buckinghamshire. The book is currently scheduled for next summer.

Wake said: “I’m thrilled to have signed a further contract with the team at One More Chapter and, in particular, Charlotte Ledger who has championed my work from the very start of my writing career. It’s great to be working with an incredibly supportive publisher who helps to nurture and grow your writing and allows you to explore new directions.”
​
Ledger added: “Every book Jules writes is a masterclass in uplifting, romantic commercial fiction. Over the years we’ve worked together she’s gone from strength to strength. She’s reached the top of the kindle charts with Covent Garden in the Snow and her Julie Caplin series has sold nearly a quarter of a million copies worldwide, including hitting the Der Speigel bestseller list in Germany this year. I’m incredibly proud of all she has achieved and I’m so happy to be working with both her and Broo on exciting new opportunities at One More Chapter.”

From The Bookseller article | Mark Chandler

The Curator, the third in M.W. Craven's fantastic Washington Poe crime series, was published last week and we couldn't be more excited for readers to get to grips with Poe's latest case. Renowned for his head-scratching cases, M.W. Craven will have you guessing right up until the last page. 

Mike was interviewed about his writing inspiration for this month's Crime Monthly​, and also featured in this month's Woman & Home as a Book Club Choice. Both copies are available to buy now.

The longlists were announced for the 2020 CWA Dagger Awards and we were delighted to see Black Summer, the second Washington Poe book, included. Congratulations, Mike!

Only released last week, Joanna Toye's Heartache for the Shop Girls has gone straight in to the Heatseekers Chart at no.18! Congratulations, Joanna!

The German rights to Stephen Moss' august 2021 bird biography book, The Swan, have been bought by DuMont.

If you missed Stephen's appearance on @urbanbirder's webinar, you can catch up here. 

Looking for a fantastic new book to set you up for the week ahead?

The eBook of Brian McGilloway's The Last Crossing, is only 99p until the 14th June as part of Kobo's 99 for 99p sale. Click the title to take you to the deal. 

Paul Johnston has taken part in a fascinating piece for the Edinburgh Evening News along with other  Scottish crime-writers, who set their books in Edinburgh, on how their main characters would be coping during lockdown. Quint Dalrymple, Paul's protagonist, is no stranger to dystopian-esque times...

Click this link to read on. 

Finally, a heart congratulations to L.C. Tyler for his shortlisting at CrimeFest's eDunnit and Last Laugh Award, for his new Elsie & Ethelred novel, The Maltese Herring. 

The winners will be announced online on Tuesday 7 July.