Congratulations to Stephen Moss - the audiobook rights for his biography books, The Robin, The Wren and The Swallow​ have been sold to Ulverscroft.

Stephen also appeared on BBC Radio 2 with Jeremy Vine on Friday 18th December to discuss starling murmurations and power lines. A fascinating listen, and you can catch up here.

We touched on this briefly last week, but now we can give you a little bit more information..

The Costa First Novel-winning debut by Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, has been optioned by Netflix to become a seven-part series.

House Productions acquired the TV rights in 2018 and will produce the series while Sophie Petzal will create and write the adaptation. 

Executive producers for House Productions Juliette Howell and Tessa Ross said: “Stuart’s novel is such an intriguing, exciting and compelling read we are thrilled that he has entrusted it to us to bring to life for a TV audience.” 

Turton commented: “I'm absolutely delighted that The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is coming to the screen, and wish to offer my apologies to the wonderfully talented Sophie Petzal – who has the mind-destroying job of adapting it. When I set out to write a time-travelling, body-hopping, murder mystery novel, I never imagined it would end up on the telly, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds.”

Petzal added: “I’m so excited to have the chance to bring Stuart’s exhilarating, original and mind-bending novel to life on Netflix. From the moment I read the book, I knew it could make the most extraordinary television series and I’m so grateful to be a part of the incredible team setting out on this journey.” ​

To read the full press release, click here.

In addition, this week Stuart wrote a piece for the Express, regarding Hercule Poirot's centenary as in January 2021, it will be 100 years since Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at St Styles​ was published in book form. 

While the deal won't go live until the 26th December (this coming Saturday), we can give you a jolly old heads up that Amy McLellan's psychological debut thriller Remember Me, M. W. Craven's third Washington Poe outing The Curator and Andrew Swanston's devilishly page-turning historical title, Chaos, will all be included in Amazon Kindle's Twelve Days of Christmas (promo ends 7th January) promo, which sees the books reduced to a tiny fraction of their usual price. 

Set your reminder, and snap up some excellent reads!

Last week, the Guardian published a brilliant article, detailing how authors writing Christmas novels manage to keep the festive spirit through the year, even when they're writing about baking gingerbread in 30C degree July!

Included in the article is Phillipa Ashley (A Surprise Christmas Wedding - out now) and you can read the whole article here.

Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas is the Zoella Book Club pick for December, and it was thrilling to see Zoella discuss the book from her kitchen earlier this week. 

You can watch the vlog here and of course, the book is available to buy now - if you're looking for a cosy festive read, you really can't go wrong with this one! 

Mandy Robotham has written an exclusive short story for Candis magazine, which is on the shelves now!

Three more books by Alison Bruce have been snapped up by Little, Brown in a deal negotiated by Broo Doherty. 

The titles, Crash and Burn, Ante Mortem and Broken Bones will follow the first in Alison's new series, Because She Looked Away (October 2021) featuring Ronnie Blake, a former psychiatrist turned police officer who relocates to Cambridge from south London, for her new position as DI in a missing person's unit.

Alison is also the author of the Cambridge-based DC Gary Goodhew series and most recently, the standalone The Moment Before Impact. 

Two debuts, Darren Charlton's Wranglestone (recently shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award) and Amy Beashel's The Sky Is Mine (Bristol Teen Book Award longlistee) have been included in the Irish Times roundup of the 'Best YA Fiction of 2020'.

​Read the full list here.

We are delighted to welcome a new author duo to the DHH stable, under Harry Illingworth's list:

Chris & Jen Sugden are the creators of the audio drama podcast Victoriocity, a comic sci-fi detective thriller set in a reimagined Victorian past in which the city of ‘Even Greater London’ has grown to encompass the entire lower half of England. After releasing two seasons of the podcast, they are now working on a Victoriocity novel.

And just like that, we've reached our final DHH News Roundup of 2020, and what a year it's been! 

A huge and hearty thank you to all our clients for being as fabulous and hard-working as ever, and basically, keeping us all going. We do what we do because we love books, and you are the ones that make it possible, so thanks a million times over. 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

Stuart Turton’s Costa Award-winning debut The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle will be adapted as a seven-part series for Netflix UK. The title was published by Raven Books in 2018. 

House Productions, which acquired TV rights in 2018 from Emily Hayward-Whitlock of The Artists Partnership, on behalf of Harry Illingworth, director at the DHH Literary Agency, will produce the series for Netflix. Sophie Petzal will create and write the adaptation. 

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a high-concept murder mystery set during a weekend party at a crumbling mansion where the narrator must repeat the same day over and over again until he can identify the killer of the beautiful young heiress, Evelyn Hardcastle, and break the cycle.

The debut won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction. It was also shortlisted for the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. Executive producers for House Productions Juliette Howell and Tessa Ross said: “Stuart’s novel is such an intriguing, exciting and compelling read we are thrilled that he has entrusted it to us to bring to life for a TV audience.” 

Turton commented: “I'm absolutely delighted that The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is coming to the screen, and wish to offer my apologies to the wonderfully talented Sophie Petzal – who has the mind-destroying job of adapting it. When I set out to write a time-travelling, body-hopping, murder mystery novel, I never imagined it would end up on the telly, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds.”

Petzal added: “I’m so excited to have the chance to bring Stuart’s exhilarating, original and mind-bending novel to life on Netflix. From the moment I read the book, I knew it could make the most extraordinary television series and I’m so grateful to be a part of the incredible team setting out on this journey.” 

From The Bookseller article | Tamsin Hackett

Congratulations to our authors, R. C. Bridgestock, Adrian Magson and J. D. Fennell, who all saw publication for the reissues of their books. 

We are delighted that these fantastic title have found a brand new home with Canelo!

The covers for R. C. Bridgestock's reissue of Payback (Charley Mann 1) and brand new Condemned (Charley Mann 2) were revealed last week. 

Condemned will be released in April 2021. To read more about these books, click on the title above.

Jules Wake's brand new feel-good romance, The Spark, was released in eBook last week. 

Jess is falling for Sam.

Sam is falling for Jess.

But it seems life will do whatever it takes to make them fall apart.

The next two books in Mike Hollow's Blitz Detective series were published last week: The Custom House Murder and The Stratford Murder are now available in eBook.

Additionally, a new deal has been struck for the fifth book in the series: The Pimlico Murder. World English Language rights were sold to Allison & Busby, in a deal negotiated by Broo Doherty.

A couple of our books graced the 'Best Books' lists this week, and naturally we're very proud!

Winterkill, which was published this week, and is the 6th in Ragnar Jónasson's Dark Iceland series, was selected as the Sunday Times' Crime Novel of the Month. It also picked up these rather wonderful endorsements:

"The result is a sinister “twisted tragedy”. If one sentence epitomises the series it’s this: “Alone in the darkness, trapped in a maelstrom of memories." The Times

"Jónasson’s outstanding final Dark Iceland mystery ... Series fans will be sorry to see the last of Ari Thór." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A perfect winter read. Loved this book." Will Dean

Nautical mystery, The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton won Female First​'s Book of the Year (full article), and Darren Charlton's debut YA Wranglestone landed itself on the Guardian's Best Children's Books of 2020 (full article). The Devil and the Dark Water​ was also selected as 'One To Watch 2021' by Apple Books. Congratulations, both!

In more devil​-ishly good news (don't @ us), The Devil and the Dark Water has today had some INCREDIBLY exciting news announced: it is being turned into a series for Netflix. The move is part of Netflix's plan to acquire and script seven new projects (seven is clearly their lucky number...). The show will be written by Sophie Petzal and will be combined of seven (!!) hour-long episodes. 

To read the full article, click here.

We welcome two new authors to the DHH stable this week:

Sara Bonner joins Hannah Sheppard's list and is working on her debut novel. 

Emily Glenister's list welcomes Vikki Patis, who recently took part in the agency's #PitchDHH event. An established psychological suspense author, Vikki is currently working on her debut historical novel.

Excitement abound in the DHH office as Jo Thomas announced her next book:

Chasing the Italian Dream will be out in eBook from Transworld in May 2021, and paperback in June 2021.

The cover for Adrian Magson's fifth Marc Portman book, A Hostile State, was revealed last week. 

It will be released in February 2021 by Severn House and to find out more, simply click the title.

NB magazine featured both Phillipa's book, as well as Joanna Toye's festive wartime treat, Christmas for the Shop Girls, the third in her utterly charming Shop Girls series. This fab article details the books that have got authors through this year - the edition is out now!

Keris Stainton's hilariously funny and warm romantic comedy, If You Could See Me Now is included in December's Kindle Monthly Deal at only 99p.

Click on the title to go straight to the deal...

Finally, we are absolutely over the moon for Phillipa Ashley, who this week saw her 25th book, A Surprise Christmas Wedding, hit the Sunday Times paperback bestseller chart at no.6. Congratulations, Phillipa!

We were delighted to see People's Friend's Karen Byrom choose two DHH holiday titles as a couple of her December picks:

Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas and Christmas for the Shop Girls by Joanna Toye (currently 99p on Kindle!) are guaranteed to put you in a suitably festive mood - best enjoyed with a cup of hot chocolate (whipped cream & marshmallows not optional).

If you're looking for a couple of thrilling and brilliantly-priced reads to line up on your eReader over Christmas, then look no further!

Carys Jones' taut psychological thriller, The List and Adam Hamdy's espionage thrill-ride, Black 13 are only 99p as part of both the Kindle Monthly Deal and Kindle's Countdown for Christmas. 

Get downloading now!

Phillipa Ashley's most recent book, A Surprise Christmas Wedding has hit no.15 in the mass-market charts and we couldn't be more pleased! 

She is also at a thrilling no.1 on the Heatseekers Chart.

We saw a couple of excellent cover reveals last week: Ragnar Jónasson's forthcoming standalone, The Girl Who Died is published by Michael Joseph in April 2021 and S. V. Leonard's debut psychological thriller, The Islanders, coming in March 2021 from Canelo Crime. 

To read more about these titles, click the images below.

Ragnar's most recent Hidden Iceland book, The Mist, was also named one of The Times' Crime Books of the Year!

Some international rights sales for debuts took place last week! 

Georgia Kaufmann's The Dressmaker of Paris has sold to Eksmo in Russia, and Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's The Creak on the Stairs has gone to Diaplasi Editions in Greece.

Finally, congratulations to M. W. Craven who won the Woman & Home Best Dark Thriller Award 2020 for The Curator.

We couldn't be more delighted for Mike, and the third in the gripping Washington Poe series.

To read more about the Awards, and see the full list of winners, click here.

Indie Boldwood Books has signed three more authors for next year, bringing the total number of writers on the list to 44, while announcing it has hit £2m in sales across all formats.

The three new Boldwood authors—Jo Bartlett, Lisa Hobman and Maddie Please—are already published writers. All have been contracted on multi-book deals, and will be published in every format simultaneously in all English-language territories.

Amanda Ridout, founder and c.e.o., commented: "After a very strong third quarter we are delighted to be welcoming three more wonderful authors to the Boldwood list. It is very satisfying to see, despite the challenges of the pandemic, that significant global sales progress across all our formats is continuing—with print in all its forms now contributing 25% to our revenue and our audio product inclusion in the worldwide streaming services beginning to bear fruit. We are in a good position to weather the economic storms ahead and as always thank all our authors and industry partners for enabling the company to flourish."

Please is the author of four bestselling romantic comedies. She will be taking a new direction in her writing for Boldwood, with "joyous tales of older women"—the first of which, The Old Ducks’ Club, will be published in May 2021.

​From The Bookseller article | Ruth Comerford

Congratulations to M. W. Craven and his book, ​The Curator, who has won the Woman & Home Book Club Award 2020 for Best Dark Thriller!

The Curator is the third in Craven's hugely popular Washington Poe series, following The Puppet Show and Black Summer.

To read the full winners list, and hear more about the awards, click here.