In addition, Phillipa has written a story for MyWeekly, titled 'Midwinter Magic', and the issue is on sale now!

Happy Publication Day to a number of our authors for their special days this week. 

Click the book below to find out more...

The absolutely stunning cover for The Jaguar Path​, the powerful, hypnotic and magical second instalment in Anna Stephens' Songs of the Drowned trilogy, has been revealed... 

Stay tuned for more on this book very soon!

Our next cover reveal this week is the next standalone book from Ragnar Jonasson, Outside (April 2022, Michael Joseph).

When a deadly snowstorm strikes the Icelandic highlands, four friends seek shelter in a small abandoned hunting lodge.
It is in the middle of nowhere ,and there's no way of communicating with the outside world.
They are isolated, but they are not alone....
As the night darkens, and fears intensify, an old tragedy gradually surfaces - one that forever changed the course of their friendship.
Those dark memories could hold the key to the mystery the friends now find themselves in.
And whether they will survive until morning....

To celebrate the continued success of The Swan, the most recent in Stephen Moss' biography series, Stephen sat down with Waitrose magazine's Emma Higginbotham, to explain how this most elegant of birds and long been associated with the (round the corner) festive season. 

On sale now!

Another cover reveal for you: this time, it's the new standalone crime thriller from New York Times bestselling author, Brian McGilloway: The Empty Room (March 2022, Little Brown).

What do you do when your child goes missing?

​Pandora - Dora - Conlon wakes one morning to discover her 17-year old daughter Ellie, has not come home after a party.

The day Ellie disappears, Dora is alone as her husband Eamon has already left for the day in his job as a long-distance lorry driver. So Dora does the usual things: rings around Ellie's friends... but no one knows where she is. Her panic growing, Dora tries the local hospitals and art college where Ellie is a student - but then the police arrive on her doorstep with the news her daughter's handbag has been discovered dumped in a layby.

So begins Dora's ordeal of waiting and not knowing what has become of her girl. Eamon's lack of empathy and concern, Dora realises, is indicative of the state of their marriage, and left on her own, Dora begins to reassess everything she thought she knew about her family and her life. Increasingly isolated and disillusioned with the police investigation, Dora feels her grip on reality slipping as she takes it upon herself to find her daughter - even if it means tearing apart everything and everybody she had ever loved, and taking justice into her own hands.

Erin Green's recently-released festive beauty, From Shetland, With Love at Christmas, was featured in the current issue is Inside Soap as part of their weekly 'Hot List'.

Our last cover reveal this week is the haunting and atmospheric The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne (also known as Vikki Pattis).

Congratulations to clients M. W. Craven and Ragnar Jonasson, who have been shortlisted for the Crime Lovers Fiction Awards 2021. 

Craven is shortlisted in the Crime Author of the Year category, while Jonasson's recent standalone, The Girl Who Died, is shortlisted in the Best Crime Novel In Translation category. 

To find out more about the Awards, and cast your own vote, click here.

A brand new cover has been revealed, for Micaiah Johnson's multiverse SFF debut, The Space Between Worlds​.

Released just last week, and after three days of sales, we are delighted to announce that Phillipa Ashley's brand new sparkly, festive romance, A Special Cornish Christmas, has sailed in to the Sunday Times paperback bestseller chart, at no.14.

Congratulations, Phillipa!

In more Phillipa Ashley news, our 'Queen of Cornwall' caught up with Tiffany Truscott on BBC Radio Cornwall, to talk about A Special Cornish Christmas.

​Catch up here.

The cover for the next Washington Poe book from M. W. Craven, The Botanist, was revealed last week and we cannot wait for this to hit shelves next summer (June 2022, to be exact, and available to pre-order now).

Also published this week -  this time in paperback - was Farewell My Herring​, the new - and ninth - in L. C. Tyler's Herring series.

Ethelred Tressider and his agent Elsie Thirkettle have been invited to lecture on a creative writing course at Fell Hall, a remote location in the heart of ragged countryside that even sheep are keen to shun. While Ethelred’s success as a writer is distinctly average, Elsie sees this as an opportunity to scout for new, hopefully more lucrative, talent. But heavy snow falls overnight, trapping those early arrivals inside, and tensions are quick to emerge between the assembled group.
​
When one of their number goes missing, Ethelred leads a search party and makes a gruesome discovery. With no phone signal and no hope of summoning the police, can Ethelred and Elsie identify the killer among them before one of them is next?

Finally, published later this week, The Russian Doll by Marina Palmer, has picked up a fantastic review in the Literary Review:

"In The Russian Doll, Marina Palmer, who has written several well-received historical crime novels as Imogen Robertson, pits Ruth, a young woman who grew up in care, against a Russian oligarch and his powerful, manipulative wife, Elena. Ruth and Elena are brought together by a terrorist bombing in a London cafe, where the Russian woman is entertaining her two daughters. Admiring Ruth’s courage at the scene, Elena offers her a job as a personal assistant looking after her social and charitable affairs. As Ruth learns more about her employer’s activities, she has to develop strategies to keep herself safe and to work out which of the many other employees she can trust. Part thriller, part romance, part social commentary, this is a wildly entertaining novel."

Congratulations to Phillipa Ashley, who this week saw the release of her brand new, Christmas romance, A Special Cornish Christmas. It was also selected as Tesco's Book of the Week!

A special event at at the Museum of Cannock Chase will be held on 26th November - their first since the pandemic - and will feature both DHH clients, Phillipa and Erin Green.

To find out more about the event, click here.

Thanks to author Elizabeth Buchan who this week, gave a fantastic endorsement for Thomas Mogford's forthcoming novel, The Planthunter:

"A terrific swash-and-buckle adventure of plant hunting in China in the 1860s. The detail is eye-opening and the story gripping and unusual. Bravo!"

Published in February 2022, you can pre-order here.

We received the fantastic news that the second in Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's Hidden Iceland series, Girls Who Lie, is the no.1 bestselling eBook on Canada's Kindle chart.

And the book is only 99p / 99c everywhere! Order your copy here. 

The cover for M. W. Craven's novella, as part of Quick Reads' literacy programme, The Cutting Season, has been revealed!

The programme aims to tackle the UK’s adult literacy crisis by helping less confident readers start reading. To read the full press release, click here.

Congratulations to Clare Whitfield! Waterstones has named her debut, People of Abandoned Character, one of their paperbacks of 2021!

Every time her husband stays out late, another woman is found dead.
Is it a coincidence?
Or is her husband the man they call Jack the Ripper?

​Get your copy from Waterstones here.

Finally, huge congratulations to medical historian and TikTok star, Suzie Edge, whose debut non-fiction book, Mortal Monarchs: 1,000 Years of Royal Deaths, has sold to Headline's Wildfire imprint. UK & Commonwealth rights were acquired in a deal negotiated by Emily Glenister.

A "humorous deep-dive" into the deaths of the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, the book will publish in September 2022. Full press release here.

Wildfire has landed a "humorous deep-dive" into the deaths of the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland by medical historian and TikTok star Suzie Edge. 

Philip Connor, senior commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Mortal Monarchs: 1000 Years of Royal Deaths from Emily Glenister at DHH Literary Agency. The book will be published on 29th September 2022.

The publisher said: "Featuring original medical research, Suzie reveals that how monarchs met their end has been a wonderful mixture of violence, infections, overindulgence and occasional regicide. Mortal Monarchs uncover the plots, accusations, rivalries and ever-present threat of poison that the kings and queens of old faced. From whether the arrow William II caught in the chest was an accident or murder, to Henry IV's remarkable skin condition and the red-hot poker up Edward II's rear end, Mortal Monarchs captivates, grosses-out and informs."

Connor said: "I’m delighted to make this book my first acquisition for Wildfire. Suzie is exactly the sort of author who I hoped to work with when I joined the company. I know readers will love her knack of making history approachable and entertaining, and will enjoy her writing at least as much as her videos. With her unique background as both doctor and historian, Suzie is the perfect author for the topic and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to the Wildfire family."

Edge added: "With over 40 monarchs of England, looking back to 1066, it has been wonderful to take a deep-dive into the blue blood and guts of a thousand years of royal deaths. Better put some rubber gloves on! Monarchs are, after all, as mortal as the rest of us and the detailed stories of their final days mirror the lives and deaths of our own ancestors. It’s all there, from violence and trauma, to poisoning and infections, heart disease, cancers, old age, regicide and misadventures.
​
"How the bodies of the monarchs were treated in death has been equally remarkable. There was very little resting in peace for that lot. As a medical doctor and historian, I find it fascinating how we have treated the human body, in life and in death. I am delighted to be working with the team at Wildfire, who have a terrific enthusiasm for this Mortal Monarchs idea of history and medical crossover, and the oft gruesome results."

​From The Bookseller article | Sian Bayley

We're kicking off this week's DHH News Roundup with the incredible news that the second book from Stuart Turton, The Devil and the Dark Water, has sold 100,000 copies. 

An absolutely stonking feat for the author of the Costa Award-winning The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Congratulations, Stu!

We were delighted to see Commander, the 10th in the Jack Lark series by Paul Fraser Collard, pick up a fantastic review in The Times last week, as part of their roundup for November's Best Historical Fiction:

"​Paul Fraser Collard creates a picture of an extraordinary woman, Baker’s wife, Florence, whom the explorer bought in an Ottoman slave market in Bulgaria. Lark makes friends with a mysterious French ivory trader — the description of an elephant massacre that opens the book is harrowing stuff. How far should Jack trust this new friend? This is historical adventure with nuance and a flawed, melancholy hero."

Congratulations to Stephen Moss, who last week saw the publication of The Swan, the next in his bird biography series, following The Robin, The Wren and The Swallow.

​With beautiful illustrations throughout, this eye-opening biography reveals the hidden secrets of one of Britain's best-known birds.

Also reviewed in Best this week, was the latest outing from escapist fiction extraordinaire, Jo Thomas, Celebrations at the Chateau: "A feel-good festive romp."

In more news from Jo Thomas, Hungarian and Czech rights for Chasing the Italian Dream have been sold to Libri and Bastei Moba, respectively.

Finally, we're over the moon to be able to reveal that HQ have snapped up two more from Amanda Jennings, author of The Cliff House and The Storm, in a deal negotiated by Broo Doherty.

In addition, HQ have also acquired rights to one of Amanda's backlist titles, The Judas Scar (originally published by Cutting Edge Press in 2014). 

Full announcement here.

HQ has snapped up two further novels from Amanda Jennings. 

Kate Mills, publisher, bought world English rights from Broo Doherty at DHH Literary Agency. She has also acquired one previously published backlist title, The Judas Scar, which was originally published in 2014 by Cutting Edge Press.

HQ will publish the first book in the contract, The Haven, in hardback in March next year. It tells the story of a group of friends who decide to live off-grid, on the wilds of Bodmin Moor. What begins as a pleasant experiment in living off the land and shunning the rat race becomes something more sinister as a self-appointed leader of the group emerges with a darker agenda.

Mills said: "Amanda is a brilliant writer who cuts to the heart of her characters and weaves their stories against landscapes which can be both beguiling and threatening. The Haven feels an incredibly timely piece of fiction as so many of us seek to live more sustainably and work more remotely. It brings together Amanda’s powerful narration with an utterly compelling story of a dream going wrong. We can’t wait to share it with readers."
​
Doherty added: "Amanda is such a terrific writer: her insight into the human condition is fascinating and her sense of place is palpable. I am delighted that HQ are investing in Amanda’s future as well as her past and I am confident that Kate and the entire HQ team will do a magnificent job with these books."
​
Jennings said she was "over the moon" to be writing two new books with the HQ team, adding: "The energy and enthusiasm of every person involved is inspirational. I am also delighted they will be re-releasing The Judas Scar. I have a soft spot for this book and I'm thrilled it will have the opportunity to find a wider readership. Exciting times ahead!"

From The Bookseller article | Sian Bayley