​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.
​
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. 

​







​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...​

The countdown is on for the publication for Victoria Selman's Truly, Darkly, Deeply (July 2022, Quercus) and we are delighted to share a couple of drop-dead gorgeous quotes the book has received in the last week:

​"Wow! Truly Darkly Deeply  is a beautifully written serial killer thriller with a creeping escalation of stone cold dread. Its roots in true crime, the story is so vivid and relatable I can't be certain I wasn't there.  Brilliantly executed."
Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal

"Twisty, intense and full of quiet menace – a story that draws you in and won’t let go until the final page."
​T. M. Logan, author of The Holiday

"First rate. Victoria Selman has written a smart, sophisticated and compelling mystery thriller about the effects of serial murder, both on the killer’s victims and, equally chilling, the ones he spares. The characters and situations absolutely ring true and she had me all the way."
Mark Olshaker, author of Mindhunter

Pre-order your copy now.

Congratulations to clients Ada Palmer and Micaiah Johnson, who have both been selected as finalists at the Chicago World Con Awards; Ada is up for a Hugo Award for her Terra Ignota series (Head of Zeus), while Micaiah is a finalist for Best New Writer (her debut novel, The Space Between Worlds was published in August 2020 by Hodder & Stoughton). 

Ragnar Jónasson is set to sit down with fellow author, Sophie Hannah, at Waterstones Edinburgh (West End) on Monday 25th April. 

The two will be in discussion about their new books (Jónasson's Outside - April 2022, Michael Joseph and Hannah's The Couple at the Table - January 2022, Hodder & Stoughton).

With both authors having talked about their inspiration from, and fondness for, Agatha Christie (Sophie has penned a number of Poirot books while Ragnar is frequently penned as the 'Scandi Christie'), this is set to be DEADLY fun.

Book your tickets here.

There was a collective cheer at DHH last week, when we received the news that Brian McGilloway's new book, The Empty Room, had smashed its way into the Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller list (hardback fiction). 

This astonishing crime novel will keep you gripped until the very end, while also tugging furiously at your heartstrings - such is the skill of this incomparable writer. Congratulations, Brian! Get your copy here.

​What do you do when your child disappears?

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.

Finally, we have been sitting on a piece of news that has been incredibly difficult to keep secret ... Outside, the aforementioned new book from Ragnar Jónasson, has been bought by none other than Ridley Scott (you may have heard of him - he directed a couple of small, indie films like Blade Runner, Gladiator, Alien). 

Scott's production company, Scott-Free Productions has optioned the rights to the acclaimed thriller for feature adaptation. Commercial director Henrik Hansen from Scott’s RSA Films is in talks to direct the project.

​To read the full press release, click here. In the meantime, congratulations Ragnar!

Scott Free Productions has optioned the rights to the acclaimed thriller Outside from bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson for feature adaptation. Commercial director Henrik Hansen from Scott’s RSA Films is in talks to direct the project.

The novel will be released April 28 in the UK and stateside in June.

The story follows four friends seeking shelter in a small abandoned hunting lodge during a deadly Icelandic storm. Miles from help, and knowing they will die outside in the cold, they break open the lock and make their way inside, hoping to wait out the storm until morning. But nothing can prepare them for what they find behind the door.

Ridley Scott, Tom Moran, and Vera Meyer of Scott Free Productions will produce alongside Leifur Dagfinnsson and Kristinn Thordarson of Truenorth Productions.

​“Working with Ridley Scott, one of the great visionaries of cinema, is an immense honor,” said Jónasson. “I am very much looking forward to the adventure of bringing Outside to the screen with the teams at Scott Free and Truenorth.”

Jónasson is repped by Emily Hayward-Whitlock at The Artists Partnership, Monica Gram at Copenhagen Literary Agency and David Headley at DHH Literary Agency.

Recent films for Scott Free include the Scott-directed The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jodie Comer, and House Of Gucci, starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, and Al Pacino. Upcoming films include Napoleon directed by Scott with Joaquin Phoenix set to star as French military leader and emperor Napoleon; Boston Strangler, starring Keira Knightley; First Ascent, to be directed by Jake Scott, which is set up at Hulu with Daisy Ridley attached to star; Berlin Nobody, a thriller starring Eric Bana and Kiernan Shipka with Jordan Scott directing; and a new movie in the Alien franchise, to be directed by Fede Alvarez.

From the Deadline article | Justin Kroll

Somehow, we have made it to the London Book Fair week - a whopping two years since the last one. And we are stepping into it with some fantastic news from our clients, which we want to share with you...

Three fabulous books were published this week:

• The Resistance Girl by Mandy Robotham (Avon) paperback
• Wedding Bells for the Victory Girls by Joanna Toye (HarperFiction) paperback
• The Empty Room by Brian McGilloway (Little, Brown) hardback

To find out more about these books, simply click on the highlighted titles above.

Published this week, Brian McGilloway's The Empty Room was reviewed in this week's Best magazine:

"An emotionally-charged, slow-burning mystery, that will keep you hooked as it breaks your heart."

Graham Bartlett's forthcoming debut novel, Bad For Good, has also picked up some amazing endorsements this week:

"Bad For Good has everything you want in a crime novel; compelling protagonists, chilling villains, and an engaging, well-constructed plot. And by telling the story through the eyes of senior police officers rather than the rank and file, Bartlett is doing things just that little bit differently. One of the most confidents debuts I've ever read."
M. W. Craven

"A great story, brilliantly told, completely unputdownable."
Julia Crouch

"Bad for Good hits the page running. Graham Bartlett is a retired high-ranking police officer, but it’s his rapier sharp skill in telling a good story that more than counts. I loved it!"
Lesley Thomson

Released in June 2022 (eBook, with hardback following in June), you can pre-order your copy here.

And finally, an excellent smörgåsbord of right sales were agreed this week for M. W. Craven's Washington Poe series:

• The Puppet Show (Poe 1) sold to Wisdom Publishing in South Korea
• Black Summer (Poe 2) was bought by Leidykla in Lithuania
• The Botanist (Poe 5) sold to Dobrovsky in the Czech Republic

​Congratulations, Mike!