Penguin Lands Behr
Ann Godoff and Virginia Smith at Penguin Press signed foodie and magazine editor Edward Behr to a three-book deal, taking North American and nonexclusive open market rights. Scott Moyers at the Wylie Agency brokered the deal for Behr, who founded and edits the 25-year-old magazine The Art of Eating. The first book in the deal, Fifty Foods, will, as Moyers explained, be a guide to the "connoisseurship" of the 50 greatest foods in the world, and it will explain everything from how to buy to how to prepare each delicacy. Following Fifty Foods will be The Art of Eating in France and then The Art of Eating in Italy. No firm publication dates have been decided.

Regnery Takes Stakelbeck
Maura Teitelbaum at Abrams Artists Agency sold world rights to Erick Stakelbeck's Deception: How the Obama Administration and Islamic Apologists Are Lying About How Safe We Are. Harry Croker at Regnery bought the book, which is scheduled
for 2011. Stakelbeck hosts his own show, Stakelbeck on Terror, on CBN.com (the Christian Broadcasting Network), and according to Teitelbaum, Deception will "identify the new face of terrorism and expose the gaping holes in global and national security."

Green Moves to SMP
Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's Press took, at auction, North American rights to the next three novels by Jane Green. Green, whose bestselling titles include The Beach House and, most recently, Promises to Keep, was at Viking. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh at William Morris Endeavor represented Green, and SMP is planning to publish Green's first book in the deal in early 2012.

Murgolo Closes Three at Life & Style
Karen Murgolo, recently named editorial director at Grand Central's new Life & Style imprint, has started to build her list, closing on three titles. Murgolo bought world rights to Randy Fenoli's It's All About the Dress. Fenoli, a bridal fashion designer who stars on TLC's wedding dress reality show, Say Yes to the Dress, will provide shopping tips for brides-to-be in the book; Jill Cohen of Jill Cohen & Associates brokered the deal, and a fall 2011 publication is planned.

In the second deal, Murgolo took world rights to a cookbook by Roberto Martin, Ellen Degeneres's personal chef. Martin, who'll share recipes that make vegan food more accessible to home cooks, was represented by Esther Newberg at ICM. No title yet, but publication is planned for fall 2011.

In the third acquisition, Murgolo took world rights to Rev. Ed Bacon's Habits of Love. Bacon is the rector at Pasadena, Calif.'s All Saints Church and a regular on Soul Series, a radio show webcast via Oprah.com and also on Oprah's Sirius channel, Oprah Radio. Eve Bridburg at Zachary Schuster Harmsworth Literary represented Bacon, who will write about the fears that people carry that inhibit them from, as the publisher said, "connecting to their authentic selves."

Briefs
Bob Pigeon, at Da Capo, closed a two-book deal with Harlow Giles Unger (The Last Founding Father), brokered by Edward W. Knappman at New England Publishing Associates. Pigeon took world rights to American Tempest: The Heroes and Villains of the Boston Tea Party and Mr. President: How George Washington Invented Executive Power. Tempest, scheduled for spring 2011, will offer an in-depth look at the men behind the Boston Tea Party, while Mr. President will, as the publisher put it, provide "a new portrait of Washington as a political genius."

Correction
In the July 27 column, the deal item citing the sale of Kevin Maney and Vivek Ranadive's The Two-Second Advantage to Crown Business did not include the agent who brokered the deal; Sandra Dijkstra sold the book.