​Congratulations to clients Phillipa Ashley and Adrian Magson who both had books published this week!
 
A Perfect Cornish Summer is the first in the brand new series from the “queen of Cornish romance”, Phillipa. Set in the fictional Porthmellow Harbour, we follow Sam Lovell as she organises the annual summer festival in her hometown. All is going well, until the star guest pulls out at the last minute and a London chef, who grew up locally, steps in. But Gabe Matthias is the last person Sam was expecting to see, and his return to Porthmellow will change her quiet coastal life forever. It’s available in eBook now and you can order here.
 
Adrian Magson’s new novel Rocco and the Price of Lies is the much-anticipated sixth in this fabulous crime series, set in 1960s Picardie and starring Detective Lucas Rocco. Three government officials are all found dead by their own hands. Murder by suicide? In answering this question, Rocco uncovers top-level fraud, theft and deception, realising that he has nothing to lose by bringing the truth out into the open - whatever the risks. To buy your copy, click here.

We’re thrilled for clients Ragnar Jónasson and Ane Riel who have both been nominated for the Petrona Award, for Best Scandi Crime Novel of the Year. The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author, or set in Scandinavia.
 
Ragnar’s The Darkness, the first in his news Hidden Iceland series and starring Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir has been shortlisted, along with Ane Riel’s haunting and disturbing Resin which has been described as “deliciously macabre” by the Observer and “creepy as hell” by the Daily Telegraph.
 
The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 11 May during the annual international crime fiction convention CrimeFest, held in Bristol on 9-12 May 2019. The winning author and translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize, and the winning author will receive a full pass to, and a guaranteed panel at, CrimeFest 2020.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton was championed on The Sara Cox Show by BBC Radio 1 presenter, DJ and author Greg James. Obviously, we heartily endorse this endorsement and you can catch the episode yourself right here.

​Women’s Weekly have bestowed some wonderful praise on Joanna Toye’s wartime debut novel A Store At War: “[a] captivating wartime drama… A triumphant debut novel.”
 



Finally, congratulations to Julie Caplin whose two Romantic Escapes books, The Little Café In Copenhagen and The Little Brooklyn Bakery, have been sold to Eksmo in Russia.

Congratulations to clients Ragnar Jónasson and Ane Riel, whose books have been shortlisted for the Petrona Award for their novels The Darkness and Resin, respectively.

The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia.

The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 11 May during the annual international crime fiction convention CrimeFest held in Bristol on 9-12 May 2019. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize, and the winning author will receive a full pass to, and a guaranteed panel at, CrimeFest 2020.  

​We hope you’ve got a plethora of chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and slices of Simnel cake on the go after the Bank Holiday weekend. Why don’t you stick the kettle on, grab a treat and settle down to read our news roundup from the last week!
 
Firstly, we’d like to wish a very Happy Publication Day to four fabulous clients: Keris Stainton for The Bad Mother’s Book Club; Anna Stephens for the paperback of Darksoul; Anna Jacobs for Changing Lara and Ane Riel for the paperback of her debut novel Resin. 

Congratulations to Stuart Turton, whose acclaimed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. The shortlisted will be announced on the 19th May and the winner on the 18th July at the annual awards ceremony taking place at the Festival itself.

The film that was made out of Caroline Smailes’ novel The Drowning of Arthur Braxton has won Best Feature Film at the Coventry Film Festival last weekend. Congratulations all!

Italian rights for James Goodhand's debut YA novel Last Lesson have been sold to Rizzoli (via Penguin Random House). James was one of our pitchers at the very first Pitch DHH and rather fortuitously, was snapped up by Harry Illingworth. 

Russian rights for G.S. Locke’s debut novel Neon have been sold to Eksmo, via Orion. ​

Lightseekers, the spellbinding debut from Femi Kayode and due to be published by Bloomsbury in 2020, has sold its Czech Republic rights to Host.

In a super-exciting surprise this week, How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager that one of the books he was currently reading and enjoying was none other than The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. To watch the full clip, click here.

​Paul Burston’s new novel The Closer I Get has been garnering some incredible reviews pre-publication (out in July 2019 from Orenda Books) from the likes of Lisa Jewell (“Properly dark and human and twisty. I loved it!”); Melanie McGrath (“Compelling, creepy and completely believable. Bravo.”); Angela Clarke (“Absurdly gripping… enough to unnerve anyone who has ever spent any time online.”) and Sarah Hilary (“Dangerous from page one, lit by bursts of black humour, ultimately honest about the frailty of ego and the masks we all wear. Terrifically readable.”).

​Finally, we’d like to pay tribute one of our clients, Una-Mary Parker (rep: Broo Doherty) who sadly passed away earlier this month. Before turning her hand to novels, Una-Mary worked as a journalist at the Daily Mail and Evening Standard and also spent ten years as social editor of Tatler magazine. Una's first novel, Riches, was published in October 1987 and went on to become an international bestseller. Her other novels include Scandals, Temptations, Enticements, A Guilty Pleasure, Sweet Vengeance and The Fairbairn Fortunes. Glamorous, witty and unfailingly charming, it’s safe to say we will miss Una-Mary dearly. 

​It’s got awfully cold of late so we’ve decided to hunker down with a few good books and bad weather be damned! Of course this is made much easier by the fact that we’ve some excellent news in this week’s roundup…
 
Abi Elphinstone’s Everdark, the first adventure in Abi’s new Unmapped Chronicles series, and a World Book Day pick for 2019, was at No.5 in this week’s Sunday Times Children’s Chart. Abi joined the likes of David Walliams and Jeff Kinney for her Top Five spot. 

​Shooting straight in at No.4 in the Italian book charts was our very own The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (or - Le sette morti di Evelyn Hardcastle) by Stuart Turton. We absolutely love the design for the Italian version. Classy and seriously stylish. The bestselling debut has sold in over 25 languages and counting...

… which brings us nicely to our next bit of news: Estonian rights for this title have been sold to Tänapäev. 
​

The audiobooks for Sleeper and Sleeper: The Red Storm by J.D. Fennell are now available to buy! Narrated by Joe Jamison, these books are a thrill-a-minute and pack a whopping punch of nail-biting excitement. More information here. 

​Kate Mallinder has written a piece for Words and Pictures, the online magazine for SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) as part of their Debut Journeys feature. Kate’s debut YA novel Summer Of No Regrets will be published by Firefly in May 2019. You can read the full piece here.

Finally, we're totally over the moon that King Of Kings, the collaboration between Wilbur Smith and DHH client Imogen Robertson is No.1 in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Republic of South Africa (for it’s sixth week running). 

We are delighted to welcome Carys Jones to the agency on David Headley's client list, and we are very excited to have this incredibly talented author on board. Carys has written fourteen books include Best Friends and Dead Girls Can't Lie, both published by Aria.

There were three gorgeous cover reveals this week: The Snow Dragon by Abi Elphinstone; My Lemon Grove Summer by Jo Thomas and I Know You’re There by Sarah Simpson. 

​The Snow Dragon tells a beautiful story of friendship, magic and belonging, with stunning illustrations from Fiona Woodcock. My Lemon Grove Summer is Jo’s next glorious escapist read set in the lemon groves of Sicily and I Know You’re There is Sarah’s third gripping psychological thriller, guaranteed to have you turning the pages well past your bedtime!

Lucinda Hawksley’s colourful and emotionally-charged biography of Lizzie Siddal received a fab mention in the Metro’s ‘On My E-Reader’ feature last week, from none other than author Michelle Paver: “A riveting biography of a young woman who packed one hell of a lot into her brief life: talent, beauty, gorgeous [but selfish] young men, addition, obsession - the poor girl modelled for Millais’s Ophelia in a tin bath in winter. I couldn’t put it down.”

Liberation, based on the incredible true story of World War II’s greatest heroine, Nancy Wake, has been sold in more territories making a total of twelve foreign rights sales thus far:  

The book, written by Imogen Kealey and client Imogen Robertson will be published by Sphere in spring 2020 and is due to be made into a move starring Anne Hathaway. 

Abi Elphinstone’s Everdark, the first adventure in her new Unmapped Chronicles series reached No.3 in the Children’s book chart this week. Everdark, set in the magical world of Crackledawn was selected as an official World Book Day 2019 book.

The Little Café In Copenhagen by Julie Caplin, and the first in her super-popular Romantic Escapes has been sold to Koncept in Croatia.
 
Amanda Jennings’ haunting and suspenseful The Cliff House has been sold to Bastei Lübbe in Germany.
 
My Lemon Grove Summer by Jo Thomas has been sold to Amber in Poland.
 
Femi Kayode’s thrilling debut novel Lightseekers has had its French rights sold to Presses de la Cite at auction.
 
Luke Turner (Out of the Woods, Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, January 2019) was on BBC Radio’s Music Matters last week, creating a playlist to talk about how we approach climate change through the prism of unpredictable weather. Have a listen here.

Congratulations to Ragnar Jonasson, whose book The Island, the second in the Hidden Iceland series featuring DI Hulda Hermannsdóttir was published this week in hardback. The paperback of Stephen Moss’ Mrs Moreau’s Warbler, detailing how birds got their names, was also published this week, along with King of Kings the new Wilbur Smith novel co-written by client Imogen Robertson. This is the long-awaited sequel to the worldwide bestseller, The Triumph of the Sun. 

Finally, we’d like to extend a huge e-round of applause for client Adam Hamdy who co-hosted an event for new crime festival, Capital Crime, this week aimed at school children and their teachers about how to get into publishing. The event, on 2nd April, was part of Capital Crime’s Social Outreach Initiative, a collaboration between DHH Literary Agency MD David Headley, and Adam, to help London students enter the writing and publishing world. Capital Crime asked 10 state-funded schools to select two sixth-form students with interest and ability with creative writing. Those 20 students and their teachers were invited to attend a seminar evening at Goldsboro Books, where they heard from authors and professionals like Hodder publisher Ruth Tross, author Ali Land and DHH client Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Read the full article in The Bookseller here.

​We’ve had a few new additions to the DHH stable this week, and we’re delighted to welcome Clare J. Cavanagh and Jay Glennie, who will be joining Natalie Galustian’s roster of clients; Mandy Robotham to Broo Doherty’s list and New York Times bestselling author Brian McGilloway to David Headley’s. 

Neon has been sold to HarperCollins Germany. Neon is the debut thriller from Birmingham-based writer G.S. Locke and will be published by Orion in spring 2020.  To read the full press release, click here. 

​There’s just over a day left to take advantage of Kobo’s brilliant Mother’s Day sale, which features three of our stunning authors: Claire Dyer’s deeply moving The Last Day; Jean Levy’s psychological thriller debut What Was Lost and Rachael Featherstone’s touching and laugh-out-loud Puzzle Girl - all a complete steal at just 99p! To view the deal, click here.

​Congratulations to client Samantha Baines whose debut children’s book, Harriet! has been acquired by Knights Of in a deal negotiated by Hannah Sheppard. Harriet! is a book about a girl who finds out her hearing aid can help her understand aliens from across the universe. Publication is set for October 2019. To read the full press release, click here. 

​We were thrilled this week to see Ragnar Jonasson’s forthcoming The Island reviewed favourably in The Times last week. The Island is the second in the hugely successful Hidden Iceland series and follows on from The Darkness, which introduced DI Hulda Hermannsdóttir. “No one does isolation better than Ragnar Jonasson, who is superb at portraying Iceland’s stark landscape and savage beauty… Hermannsdottir is an excellent cop… An excellent addition to the growing band of top-class women detectives.”

Julie Caplin had not one, not two, but three of her books sitting pretty in the iBooks Romance Chart’s Top 12 last week. The Northern Lights Lodge, The Little Café In Copenhagen and The Little Brooklyn Bakery are all available to buy now - whisk yourself away on your own Romantic Escape…

​Lightseekers, the debut novel from Femi Kayode has been sold at auction to BTB Random House in Germany. This powerful novel was sold initially, also at auction, to Bloomsbury Raven and has since struck deals with Poland and Italy.