Within days of the arrest in Kansas of church-going family man Dennis Rader as the alleged BTK serial killer who has terrorized Wichita for years, a book was in the works. As often, it was SMP's Charles Spicer who was fastest out of the gate, signing true-crime writer Carlton Smith to cover the case; the North American deal was signed with Jane Dystel.... The proper relationship between church and state in America is the subject of two new books just signed. Random's Wil Murphy bought a book by Beliefnet founder and CEO Steven Waldman on the Founding Fathers' beliefs, world rights from agent Rafe Sagalyn. And a book called Enlightened Religion was part of a two-book deal signed with prolific historian Gary Wills by Houghton's Eamon Dolan, in which Wills examines the degree of religious tolerance from colonial times to the present. The deal was signed with Andrew Wylie, for publication in fall 2006.... Another book in the vein of What's the Matter with Kansas? was signed for S&S/Touchstone after a lively auction by Brett Valley. It's Foxes in the Henhouse by Democratic party campaign organizers SteveJardingand Dave Saunders, who claim that the Republicans have seized a lot of votes not rightly theirs, and outline a plan to get them back. The world rights deal was made with Matthew Carnicelli…. Small publisher Bruce McPherson made an unprecedented (for him) movie sale with the option of his novel Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors, the family saga behind the building of the Taj Mahal, to actor Erik LaSalle's Humble Journey Films. Victoria Sandersis offering paper rights.... Hillel Blackat Sourcebooks bought a combined book and CD offering the key speeches of JFK, assembled by Kennedy historian Robert Dallek and journalist and author Terry Golway. It's Let Every Nation Know: The Speeches of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and was bought from agent John Wright, for publication next spring.... The prolific Dr. Nicholas Perricone has moved to Random, in the person of Caroline Sutton, for his next, The Perricone Weight Loss Promise,after stints at Warner and Harper; as usual with the doctor, the new book also offers to help defeat aging and wrinkles. World rights were sold by David Vigliano and Elisa Petrini.