Veteran mystery fiction editor Otto Penzler has announced plans for a new true crime-focused imprint, Crime Ink.
The imprint will publish four to six books in its first year, beginning winter 2024. Tom Wickersham, formerly the manager of Penzler's New York–based the Mysterious Bookshop, will head the imprint as its editor.
“True crime is an important publishing category that has enjoyed a long history of success,” Penzler, who is CEO of Penzler Publishers, said in a statement. “When Tom Wickersham agreed to join us in this venture, his extraordinary knowledge in this field immediately convinced me that we had a great addition to our team that would prove to be innovative and successful.”
According to Penzler's announcement, Charles Perry will serve as publisher of Crime Ink, a position he currently holds with the Mysterious Press, American Mystery Classics, Scarlet, and MysteriousPress.com—the other imprints of Penzler Publishers. Luisa Smith, editor-in-chief of Penzler Publishers, will oversee the imprint.
“I am excited to join Penzler Publishers and contribute to the rich genre of true crime with Crime Ink,” said Wickersham. “We will strive to publish revelatory works that shed new light on old cases, expose modern injustices, and expand the classification of true crime as we know it.”
Crime Ink will be distributed by W. W. Norton and Company, which also distributes the Mysterious Press, Scarlet, and American Mystery Classics. The imprint's first announced titles include The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, which Wickersham called “the first modern examination of 1970s serial killer Dean Corll,” as well as “a biography of New York crime journalist Jimmy Breslin, a comprehensive account of the Son of Sam killings, and a series in translation from France.”
