It's that time of year when Books of the Year lists are published, and our clients have seriously cleaned up. 

• Abi Elphinstone's The Snow Dragon was included in the Daily Mail's Best Children's Books of the Year and The Observer's Best Children's Books of 2019, and was also one of Waterstones Piccadilly's Top 4 bestselling children's books last week
• The Snow Dragon and Samantha Baines' Harriet Versus the Galaxy were included in iNews' Children's Books of the Year
• Out of the Woods, the debut non-fiction book from Luke Turner is also one of iNews' Books of the Year

Congratulations all!

COMPETITION ALERT!

Do you fancy winning yourself a copy of Stephen Moss' The Twelve Birds of Christmas plus a festive hamper from Fortnum and Mason? Thought you did. 

Waterstones are running this excellent giveaway, and all you need to do to enter is hit the 'Sign In' button on this link. Good luck...!

Congratulations to the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards - curated by Paul Joynson Hicks and Tom Sullam - who saw all THREE of their books in the Top 4 of Amazon's 'Photography Collections and Exhibitions' category. 

Dramatic rights to Stephen Gregory's creepy horror novel The Cormorant have been sold to SUMS films. 

The Cormorant was Stephen's first novel, published in 1986, and to critical acclaim, winning the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award and earning comparisons to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. 

Finally, two fantastic pieces on Jay Glennie's One Shot: the Making of The Deer Hunter were published last week. The first, in Little White Lies and the second in GQ magazine. 

​Delve in to these fantastic articles to discover some little-known facts about the five-time Oscar winning film. 

Congratulations to clients Paul Joynson Hicks and Tom Sullam, as all three of the Comedy Wildlife Photography AwardsComedy Wildlife Photography Awards books (curated by the two) were in the Top 8 on Amazon's 'Photography Collections and Exhibitions' category. A fantastic achievement and, may we add, the perfect Christmas presents...

Congratulations to three of our clients, Jo Thomas, M.W. Craven and Linda Regan, all of whom had books published last week. 

Coming Home to Winter Island is the new novel from Jo we can't get enough of this gorgeous story. 

Black Summer, the second in M.W. Craven's Washington Poe series (that follows The Puppet Show) was published in paperback

Linda's The Terror Within is the next in the DCI Banham series. Linda also appeared on the Jo Good radio show last Friday, and you can catch up here.

Both Phillipa Ashley's A Perfect Cornish Christmas ("with its topical modern plot twist in a traditional winter setting, and a will they/won’t they/should they romantic dilemma simmering away on every page, this is a page-turner of a festive read") and Jo Thomas' Coming Home to Winter Island ("[a] perfectly pitched slice of Christmas romance... the recipe for a true delight") featured in MyWeekly and heat magazines respectively last week. 

These two gorgeous winter warmers are guaranteed to melt your heart and get you properly in the mood for Christmas!

It's been a very busy week for Jay Glennie, whose "behind the scenes" look at the film The Deer Hunter was published. 

Jay appeared on Robert Elm's BBC radio show to talk about One Shot: the Making of The Deer Hunter, and you can catch up here.

The Telegraph and Independent also ran pieces on the book, and finally Ventis magazine published an article, talking about the book and Robert de Niro's - one of the film's stars - willingness to participate in the book.

​You can buy a beautiful limited edition of this book here.

Julie Caplin's The Little Paris Patisserie has been sold to Libri in Hungary. 

Julie's gorgeous Romantic Escapes book are the perfect antidote to this chilly weather. Others in the series include The Little Brooklyn Bakery, The Little Cafe in Copenhagen, The Northern Lights Lodge and The Secret Cove in Croatia.

Huge congratulations to the man who puts the, er, 'DHH' in DHH Literary Agency - David Headley, who has been named as one of The Bookseller's Top 150 list of the most influential people in publishing. Congratulations, David!

Finally, it was fantastic to see both Adrian Magson's Terminal Black and Chris Simms' Marked Men appear on the blog Murder, Mayhem and Dogs as two of Jeff Popple's round-up of the Best Crime Books of 2019. An excellent end to the year!

Starting off this week's news roundup with a heartfelt thank you to all the pitchers that made the effort to come & see us in Liverpool on Saturday for our PitchDHH session. 

We loved meeting you all, and were bowled over by your enthusiasm and passion. 

​Thank you!

We'd like to wish R.C. Bridgestock a huge congratulations for the eBook publication of their brand new novel (in a brand new series, no less), Payback! 

This is a fantastic and gripping, female-led police procedural written by the storyline consultants to TV's Happy Valley and Scott & Bailey (basically, they know what they're talking about).

The paperback is out on the 9th January 2020 but in the meantime, they've picked up a brilliant Publication Day review over on bloglovin.com

"Payback is a cracker... An exciting new crime series from two authors who are really making their mark in the crime fiction world."

Looking for something exciting to read to get you through December? Then look no further than the folks over at Kobo who are laying on a brilliant 199 for £1.99, and DHH have not one, not two, but three titles in the coveted list. 

You can snap up Adrian Magson's Death on the Marais and Death at the Clos du Lac, as well as R.C. Bridgestock's Snow Kills​ for this excellent price until the 11th December. Click on the titles to take you to the deal!

Stuart Turton's second novel, The Devil and the Dark Water has been sold to Neri Pozza in Italy. 

The Creak on the Stairs, the debut Scandi-noir from Eva Björg AÆgisdóttir has been sold to Le Martinieres in France.

Bastei Luebbe in Germany have snapped up rights to Jo Thomas' glorious My Lemon Grove Summer

Congratulations all!

Jay Glennie's One Shot: The Making of the Deer Hunter is published today! The Independent's article gives you a glimpse of what you can expect. 

One of the film's stars, Robert de Niro, spoke exclusively to Jay, and gives some fascinating behind-the-scenes details about the five-times Oscar winning film.

Black 13, the new thriller from Adam Hamdy is a Goldsboro Book of the Month for December and is available to buy now, one whole month prior to official publication. 

This gorgeous all-black version is signed, has sprayed edges, is numbered and is exclusive to Goldsboro Books. 

Buy your copy here.

This month's Woman & Home magazine featured a lovely 'How I Write' piece by Jo Thomas to celebrate the upcoming paperback publication of her new novel Coming Home To Winter Island. 

Top children's authors and illustrators have chosen their favourite books of 2019, for the BookTrust, and we were over the moon to see Abi Elphinstone's Rumblestar included in the list. 

Rumblestar is the first in Abi's new Unmapped Chronicles series and was published back in May 2019. 

To see the BookTrust's full list and read the article, click here.

To celebrate the publication of Stephen Moss' The Twelve Birds of Christmas (if you have yet to get your copy of this gorgeous festive treat, then we really must insist you rectify that immediately), Waterstones has published a blog post from Stephen, who recommends his Top 5 Nature Books for Winter. Have a gander here.

Congratulations to Amy McLellan who this week saw the eBook publication of her debut novel Remember Me​.

The paperback is released in April 2020, but in the meantime, if you like your psychological thrillers with an extra helping of twists and turns, this one is for you and you can download your copy here.

Lucinda Hawksley featured on BBC Radio's Today programme last week, to talk about the new Christmas Carol adaptation starring Guy Pearce and Stephen Graham. You can catch up here (2h 23m).

Lucinda is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the one and only Charles Dickens, and has grown up with a fervent interest in her family's history. In 2017, she published Dickens and Christmas (Pen & Sword), a look at, and celebration of, how the author changed forever the way Christmas is celebrated. It makes the *perfect* Christmas gift #justsaying

Speaking of new authors, welcome to Elizabeth S. Moore, who joins Hannah Sheppard's list. Elizabeth's debut novel, The Man on the Second Floor (Red Door) was published in 2018. We are very excited to have Elizabeth on board!

The Lost Outlaw, the eighth in Paul Fraser Collard's Jack Lark series has garnered a brilliant write-up from the Historical Novel Society. 

"If you are looking for nonstop high-octane adventure with lots of pulsating action, this is for you. Strap on a navy Colt, mount up - and enjoy. Recommended."

The third in Phillipa Ashley's Porthmellow series, A Perfect Cornish Escape is up now and available for pre-order. The cover is gorgeous and evokes all the wonderful things about summer that we have to look forward to - we can't wait to show you more in the new year! 

The second in the series, A Perfect Cornish Christmas hit No.10 in the Kindle Charts last week, was No.1 in the 'Parenting and Family' category, No.1 in 'Romantic Relationships' and No.1 in 'Saga'. Go Phillipa!

The fourth in M.W. Craven's Washington Poe series, Dead Ground is now up and available for pre-order. This follows The Puppet Show (2018), Black Summer (2019) and The Curator (2020). 

Dead Ground  is not published until 2021... You can't say the folks over at Little, Brown aren't organised...!

Today is the LAST day you can snap up these three fantastic books in Kobo's Black Friday sale for only 99p. Click on the book to take you to the link...

Stuart Turton's (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) second book, The Devil and Dark Water has been sold to Dobrovsky in the Czech Republic, pre-publication. 

Finally, we have a bumper crop of news on forthcoming debut author Clare Whitfield.

​Clare is a graduate of the University of Winchester's MA in Creative and Critical Writing, has had a lovely write-up in their online journal regarding her novel People Of Abandoned Character (Head of Zeus, October 2020). You can read it here. 

M.W. Craven was fortunate enough to get his hands on an advance copy and has supplied a fantastic quote, which we can't help but agree with: "Astonishing... I'd be amazed if it's dominating the shortlists come next year's awards season." 

The cover for this absolutely superb book was revealed last week, and we think captures the feel and tone of the book to perfection. 

Marry in haste...
Murder at leisure?

London, 1888: Susannah Chapman rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes.

Thomas's behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and often violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets. The gentle caresses Susannah enjoyed on her wedding night are now just a honeyed memory.

When the first woman is murdered in Whitechapel, Susannah's interest is piqued. But as she follows the reports of the ongoing hunt for the murderer, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time Thomas stays out late, another victim is found dead.
​
Is it coincidence? Or is her husband the man they call Jack the Ripper?