More Mystery from Berkley
Berkley executive editor Kerry Donovan bought the fourth and fifth books in bestselling author Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series. The six-figure deal for North American rights was brokered by Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency. The historical mysteries feature Charlotte Holmes, a young woman in Victorian England who solves cases under the alias of Sherlock Holmes. Berkley released the second book in the series, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, in September, and plans to publish the recently signed books in fall 2019 and fall 2020.
In another six-figure deal, Berkley senior editor Michelle Vega bought world English rights to three new novels in bestselling author Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness Mystery series. The deal was brokered by Christina Hogrebe and Meg Ruley at Jane Rotrosen Agency. Set in 1930s England, the series features amateur sleuth Lady Georgiana Rannoch. The 11th book in the series, On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service, was released this past August, and Berkley plans to publish the three new books as hardcovers in summer 2019, summer 2020, and summer 2021.
Sourcebooks Takes On Anxiety
Shana Drehs of Sourcebooks acquired North American rights, at auction, to The Anxiety Advantage by Washington, D.C., psychologist Alicia H. Clark, with Jon Sternfeld. According to Sourcebooks, The Anxiety Advantage is “a science-based exploration of how anxiety can be a strength rather than a weakness, and how it can be harnessed for good.” The deal was brokered by Rachel Ekstrom at Irene Goodman. Publication is scheduled for 2018.
Beacon Gets Less Stupid About Race
Michael Bourret at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret sold North American rights to How to Be Less Stupid About Race to Gayatri Patnaik and Maya Fernandez at Beacon Press. The book’s author, Crystal Marie Fleming, is an associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University who obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology at Harvard. Bourret called the work “a sharp and irreverent take on everything that’s wrong with our pathetic ‘national conversation about race.’ ” Fleming’s first book, Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France, was published earlier this year by Temple University Press.
Grand Central Pre-empts Glynn Memoir
In a preempt, Maddie Caldwell at Grand Central bought North American and audio rights to John Glynn’s debut memoir, Out East, from Meg Thompson and Kiele Raymond at Thompson Literary Agency. Focusing on one summer in a Montauk, N.Y., share house, the memoir, Raymond said, explores the friendships and epiphanies among Glynn’s group of friends and how, at 27, “Glynn felt his crushing loneliness sharpen into an aching, wholly unexpected love for another man.” Glynn is an editor at Hanover Square Press and was formerly an associate editor at Scribner.
Debut YA Fantasy Goes to HarperTeen
Emilia Rhodes at HarperTeen has acquired Thorn, a debut YA fantasy that was originally self-published by Intisar Khanani. Emmanuelle Morgen at Stonesong negotiated the North American rights deal. Loosely inspired by the Grimms’ fairy tale “The Goose Girl,” the story follows a princess who is forced to travel to a foreign kingdom to marry a prince she’s never met, but diverted when a magical attack causes her to switch bodies with a common girl, explained Morgen. The princess must choose between her newfound freedom and saving the life of the prince—her attacker’s next target. The deal also includes Khanani’s A Theft of Sunlight, a companion novel that is set in the same world as Thorn. Thorn will publish in winter 2019, and Sunlight sometime in 2020.
