Adam Simcox's forthcoming debut novel, The Dying Squad, has received two fantastic quotes this week:

​“Whip-smart, fresh with a dash of dark humour, The Dying Squad is a wildly entertaining read. Highly recommended.”
Adam Hamdy

"Fresh, inventive and funny. The Dying Squad is superbly plotted and packs an emotional heft rarely seen in a debut."
M. W. Craven

This incredibly original crime read will be published on 22nd July 2021 and you can pre-order here. 

The cover for Erin Green's From Shetland, With Love (Headline, May 2021) has been revealed and it's as joyful and summery on the inside as it is on the outside!

We are delighted to welcome two new authors to the Agency this week:

Victoria Selman, author of the bestselling Ziba MacKenzie series (Blood for Blood, Nothing to Lose and Snakes and Ladders) joins David Headley's list. 

YA author Lorraine Birnita has joined Hannah Sheppard's list and draws inspiration from her books having grown up in Zimbabwe, among a rich storytelling tradition. 

To read more about these exciting signings, simply click on the author's name above. 

The recently-released debut from S. V. Leonard, The Islanders, picked up a fantastic review in last week's My Weekly magazine:

"A book so creepy, it will make you jump in the middle of the day."

An endorsement we can heartily agree with! To creep yourself out, make sure you order your copy here. 

Congratulations to our authors who saw publication of their books last week:

Skylarks With Rosie by Stephen Moss details the Spring Equinox through the unique experience of lockdown, all with his beloved canine companion, Rosie, by his side; The Dockland Murder is the fifth in Mike Hollow's Blitz Detective series starring Inspector John Jago; and finally, Marrying Simone by Anna Jacobs, is the third in her heartwarming Penny Lake series and is out now in paperback.

The Wall Street Journal provided an update into the screen adaptation of Ragnar Jónasson's The Darkness. It is so exciting that the iconic Hulda Hermansdóttir will be brought to life very soon!

To read the full article, click here. 

Joanna Toye, author of the Shop Girls series (A Store at War, Wartime for the Shop Girls, Heartache for the Shop Girls and Christmas for the Shop Girls) will be taking part in a discussion with Jackie Kaines Lang about her body of work so far, as well as her forthcoming book, The Victory Girls (8th July 2021).

To book your ticket for this FREE event, on Wednesday 30th June at 2pm, click here. 

We're welcoming two new clients to the DHH stable this week: both Tat Effby and Jane Noone join Broo Doherty's list. 

​Tat's cartoons have appeared in Private Eye, the Oldie, the Guardian and as Cath Tate Cards. She is a regular contributor to My Shrewsbury Magazine, home to her strip Round the Bend, based on the wildfowl of Shrewsbury's stretch of the River Severn. 

Jane spent 25 years as a journalist, radio, copy and writing comedy. As well as writing for charities and government, Jane has written for the Soho Theatre, The Poke, a naked Vic and Bob, and now she writes books as well as working with young offenders. 

Two covers were revealed last week, and we're delighted to show you them:

The first in Anna Jacobs' new Backshaw Moss series, A Valley Dream: 1935. At thirty-six, Bella Porter is dependent on her abusive cousin, acting as an unpaid servant. When a kind relative leaves her a house in the village of Backshaw Moss, Thomas tries to take it from her, but she defies him and grasps this chance of a new start in Lancashire. Can her new friends help her rid herself of her tormenter once and for all and finally achieve her valley dream?

We were very happy to see some excellent reviews for Alison Bruce's latest book, The Moment Before Impact:

​"A conspiracy story with plenty of twists becomes a race-against time suspense novel that belongs firmly in the 'just one more chapter before I sleep' category."
Morning Star

"Alison Bruce has written a superior thriller, full of suppressed menace, which proves you should never trust anyone."
Sunday Times Crime Club

Transworld editorial director Francesca Best has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to four more titles from Jo Thomas in a "substantial" six-figure deal made with David Headley at DHH. 

Thomas previously published eight novels with Headline before moving to Transworld in 2019 in a four-book deal. Her first title with Transworld, Escape to the French Farmhouse, was published in August 2020. 

The first book under the new deal will be published in summer 2022 and will be the story of a British woman who joins a housesitting agency and ends up moving to a rural finca in southern Spain, finding a new zest for life and love and learning about Iberico ham and secret gastronomic societies along the way. 

Best said: "Jo’s wonderful, escapist tales of travel, food and love have captured the hearts of thousands of readers, with Escape to the French Farmhouse providing the perfect antidote to lockdown woes last year. I am delighted to be publishing more of Jo’s books – not only is she a joy to work with but we are hugely ambitious and excited for her future!"
​
Thomas commented: "I am absolutely delighted to be continuing my relationship with Transworld. I cannot wait to carry on my publishing journey with such an enthusiastic, encouraging and supportive team."

From The Bookseller article | Tamsin Hackett

Last week saw the publication of S. V. Leonard's debut novel The Islanders. ​

To celebrate, Sarah chatted to UK Crime Book Club over on Facebook, where she talked about how she joined us at DHH, her writing journey and process - and how lockdown has affected her creativity. 

​If you missed it, no fear - you can catch up by clicking this link. 

In addition, Sarah will be taking over Canelo's Twitter account this Thursday (18th March) at 6pm for a live author chat, to discuss all things murder and, of course, The Islanders​. Don't miss it!

Also taking part in a Facebook event is The List author, Carys Jones, on Wednesday 24th March at 7pm. 

Joining the chat is free (register here) and is hosted by Telford & Wreckin Libraries. 

As well as dishing the goss on her book, Carys will be talking about her writing process and what she has coming up next.

We had some wonderful rights sales happen this week:

• The Dressmaker of Paris, Georgia Kaufmann's debut novel was snapped up by Urano in Spain
• M. W. Craven's second Washington Poe instalment, Black Summer was acquired by Pegasus in Estonia
• Both of Jo Thomas' gorgeous getaway titles, Coming Home to Winter Island and Sunset Over the Cherry Orchard went to Polaris in Sweden
• The Empire of the Wolf trilogy, the debut SFF series by Richard Swan has been bought by Eksmo in Russia

Congratulations to our fab clients!

The cover for Chris McGeorge's next fab page-turning psychological thriller, Half Past Tomorrow​ was revealed this week!

David Headley welcomed two new authors to his list last week:

Jo Lyons is currently working on her debut novel after 12 months of commuting back and forth between Alicante, Spain and her native Newcastle (having persuaded her family to take an extended family gap year there), Jo found the stories she learned from chatting to strangers on the plane were the perfect inspiration for her writing. 

Katrín Júlíúsdóttir received the Blackbird Award, an Icelandic crime-writing prize, for her first novel, Sykur (en: Sugar) in 2020. Her debut novel was reviewed well by critics and hit the best-selling lists in the first weeks after publication. Katrín is the Managing Director of Finance Iceland and has a strong political background. 

Huge congratulations to Darren Charlton, who saw his debut YA novel Wranglestone, shortlisted for the YA Book Prize! 

The winner will be announced on Thursday 6th May, and you can find out more about the Prize here. 

Three glorious books were published last week:

Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines by Henrietta Heald (paperback). ​In 1919, in the wake of the First World War, a group of extraordinary women came together to create the Women's Engineering Society. Magnificent Women and Their Revolutionary Machines brings their story back to life. Henrietta appeared on BBC Radio Bristol to talk about her book, and you can catch up here (14m 20s).

Six by G. S. Locke. The follow-up to Neon, successful criminal defence lawyer, Jon Shaw, comes face to face to with Danny Hallam, the man he tried to murder twenty-five years ago...

The Spark by Jules Wake. Jess is falling for Sam; Sam is falling for Jess. But it seems life will do whatever it takes to make them fall apart. Is love at first sight enough?

Congratulations to our authors!

In more right sales news, Georgia Kaufmann's sweeping historical debut, The Dressmaker of Paris sold to Knigolove LLC in the Ukraine.

In addition, Ragnar's White Death (Penguin, 2023) was nominated for Best Crime Audio Book at the Icelandic Storytel Awards, along with Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's Girls Who Lie (Orenda, 2021).

It has been announced that Godblind author Anna Stephens is to write a story for Aconyte Books, titled The Serpent and the Dead. 

Aconyte Books is the novel division of Asmodee Entertainment, creating extraordinary books from the world of Asmodee, Marvel and beyond. 

The Serpent and the Dead is set in Marvel's Legends of Asgard: Someone is building an army of immortals and stealing souls, and it is up to Asgard’s extraordinary duo Brunnhilde the Valkyrie and Lady Sif to battle across the Ten Realms and try and stop it.

The book will be released in August 2021.

Stuart Turton's The Devil and the Dark Water was selected as Editor's Choice in last week's edition of The Bookseller. 

"A pleasingly fiendish mystery which wraps up ever so satisfyingly."

The paperback will be released on Thursday 13th May. 

Hodder Studios has pre-empted two books from Sarah Bonner, including her debut novel Her Perfect Twin, described as an "original, compelling and propulsive" thriller. 

Editorial director for fiction Sara Adams made the deal for world rights in two books from Hannah Sheppard at the DHH Literary Agency. German rights were pre-empted by Goldmann with the Hodder & Stoughton rights team expecting offers in multiple territories. Alex Logan at Grand Central Publishing will publish in the US.

Her Perfect Twin will be published in January 2022. It will follow Megan, who discovers photographs of her estranged identical twin sister on her husband’s phone. When Megan confronts Leah about it, an argument turns to murder – and Megan’s only chance to get away with killing her twin is to become her. But when lockdown comes into force, how can she continue living two lives? And what happens if someone else knows her secret too?

Adams said: "I am obsessed with Sarah’s incredible thriller. I’ve not read anything this original, compelling and propulsive in years, and everyone at Hodder Studio has been completely gripped by Her Perfect Twin – we wanted to talk to each other about it immediately, about all those twists and that ending too! We cannot wait to publish Sarah’s fantastic book, and to share it with readers all around the world."

Bonner commented: "I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with the Hodder Studio team who have blown me away with their enthusiasm for Her Perfect Twin. Writing in lockdown was at times a rather solitary experience; I’m grateful to have found the incredible support of my agent Hannah and so excited to be working with Sara. I cannot wait to introduce Megan and her story to readers!"
​
Sheppard added: "I’m delighted to have found Sarah such an enthusiastic and passionate home with Sara at Hodder Studio. Sarah’s novel is compulsive reading… it came to me as part of our December virtual #PitchDHH and after our chat on a Friday morning I read the full manuscript in glorious gulps over the weekend and had signed Sarah up by Monday lunchtime. I’m sure readers everywhere will be similarly gripped."

From The Bookseller article | Tamsin Hackett

Congratulations to Clare Boyd - her new book, The Pretty One, was published last week and if you are looking for a gripping page-turner, then this will be right up your street!

Nell is the perfect child; more beautiful and more likeable and more loveable than me. If my pretty little sister never came home again, I'd finally be free from the terrible secret we share...

Anna is a wonderful mother. She gave up a career she loved to stay home with her children and her kind, polite daughters, Nell and Ivy, are a credit to her. As is Bay, her stepdaughter, whom Anna adores as much as her own two girls. But everything changes the day Anna's middle daughter's beauty catches the eye of a stranger in a cafe...

Quiet, sensitive Nell doesn’t want to have her face on a billboard for all to see. But she knows her family desperately needs the money, and perhaps it would be nice to have her mother’s full attention for the first time since Bay arrived? Could this be the escape from her stepsister's twisted games Nell has been longing for?

But the moment Nell steps in front of a camera, the devastating secret she and Bay have been keeping breaks the surface – and the bonds of this close-knit family forever. But with both Nell and Bay insisting they’re innocent, can either girl really be trusted?

As Anna’s perfect blended family unravels around her, she is forced to pick a side. To save one daughter, Anna must betray another. Choosing the wrong girl will be more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined...

Get your copy here.

Also joining David's list is Stephen Walker. 

Stephen is an award-winning BBC correspondent and author based in Belfast with a track record of writing critically-acclaimed books, including Forgotten Soldiers: The Irishmen Shot At Dawn (2007, Gill and Macmillan); Hide and Seek (2011, HarperCollins) which was an Irish Times bestseller and Daily Mail Book of the Week; and Ireland's Call (2015, Merrion Press). 

Stephen has worked for the BBC for over 30 years and his journalism has been honoured by the Royal Television Society and the Association of European Journalists. He was Northern Ireland Journalist of the Year in 2005.

To read more about Stephen, click here.

Also published this week was the hardback for the fifth in Adrian Magson's Marc Portman series, A Hostile State.

Marc Portman is no stranger to last-minute assignments and this one ought to be no different: a quick and straightforward collect-and-go-job - at least, that's what it should have been. 

Ambushed by a surprise attack, it's clear that someone must have had advance warning of Portman's arrival. But who is his unseen enemy - clearly one with considerable resources - and why do they want him dead? More importantly, how could his attacker have known of his movements with less than 24 hours' notice?

Could Portman be facing his toughest challenge yet?

Stephen Moss' forthcoming Skylarks With Rosie will be published on 18th March, and to celebrate the launch, Stephen will be taking part in an online event, talking to nature enthusiast Lucy McRobert. 

​They will discuss their shared passion for the natural world and how the past year has encouraged people to connect with the landscapes and wildlife around us in new ways.

Signed copies of Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring will be available to buy from Mr B’s Emporium. 

To book your ticket and preorder your copy of the book, click here.

Finally, we are over the moon to announce that Heather Darwent's debut novel, The Things We Do To Our Friends, has been pre-empted by Viking Books. 

Vikki Moynes acquired World Rights in a six-figure deal from Emily Glenister, with the intention to publish in January 2023.

​The novel is “an intoxicating upmarket psychological thriller with shades of The Secret History for the Me Too era". A girl hiding from her past turns up at Edinburgh University, where she is lured in by a mysterious foursome who are far from your typical students.

Heather took part in our December #PitchDHH event, and went on to sign with Emily in January this year. 

To read more about the acquisition, click here.