Guest Gets 'Elegant' for Weinstein
Judy Hottensen, publisher at Weinstein Books, acquired world English rights to caterer/entertainer Cornelia Guest's Down-to-Earth: A Seasonal Guide to Easy Elegance, Wholesome Eating, and Effortless Entertaining. Agent David Vigliano, at Vigliano Associates, brokered the deal for Guest, who has, since 2009, run her own catering company, Cornelia Guest Events. The daughter of New York society fixture CZ Guest and polo player Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, Cornelia specializes in vegan fare for high-end events. The book will offer both lifestyle and cooking tips, delivering, the publisher said, the author's "secrets of understated elegance" as well as recipes for "simple, delicious food that is free from animal products." The heavily illustrated title is slated for April 2012.

Enderlin Closes Double at SMP
St. Martin's Press senior editor Jennifer Enderlin closed two deals last week, acquiring three new books by Diane Chamberlain and four new books by Lisa Scottoline. In the three-book Chamberlain deal, Enderlin bought North American rights, at auction, from Susan Ginsburg at Writers House. Chamberlain, who Enderlin said writes "highly emotional" books about families and their secrets "often blending psychology and medicine," had been at Harlequin's Mira Books. At Mira, Chamberlain was published in trade paperback, but SMP will be rolling her out in hardcover; her first from SMP is planned for early 2013.

Enderlin also re-upped bestseller Scottoline, whose last three novels were published by SMP, buying North American rights to four new titles from agent Molly Friedrich. The final novel in Scottoline's old deal with SMP, Come Home, is scheduled for April 2012.

Gladstone Goes ‘Dead' at Tor
Weronica Janczuk, an agent at Lynn C. Franklin Associates, closed a two-book deal for Max Gladstone at Tor. David Hartwell bought world English rights to Gladstone's debut, Three Parts Dead, as well as a second book. The fantasy title is set in a futuristic urban world and follows a first-year associate at a "necromantic firm" who is looking into the mysterious death of a god. Janczuk, who struck the deal working with the D4EO Literary Agency, said the novel has "the undertones of legal thrillers"; a publication date has not been set.

Unell on Duke's Buehler
Amy E. Unell sold a book about Duke track-and-field coach Al Buehler, Starting at the Finish Line, to John Duff at Perigee. Duff took world rights to the book, which is subtitled Coach Al Buehler's Timeless Wisdom and Secrets of Success, in an unagented deal. Buehler has been at Duke for more than 40 years and also teaches a course on campus called History and Issues of American Sports; he was a vocal proponent of integrating college sports and, this year, won the Jackie Robinson Humanitarian award (which is given by the U.S. Sports Academy). Unell is also directing a documentary with the same title that is currently making the rounds of the film festival circuit.

Briefs
Kate Sullivan, at the small science fiction and fantasy press Candlemark & Gleam, took world English rights to Leonard Richardson's SF novel Constellation Games. The work is scheduled to be published as a trade paperback in April 2012, but will be released online, as a serial, beginning in November 2011. For a subscription fee, customers can access the novel on the Web or through an iPhone- and Android-friendly app; the press will then offer the paperback free to customers who paid for the book digitally. The novel follows a loser-ish 30-something gamer with a computer science degree whose world is turned upside down when the thing he's been waiting for—an alien invasion—does little to change his boring life. Richardson did not use an agent in the deal.

Agent Jenny Bent sold world rights to P.L. Gaus's eighth book in his Amish-Country Mystery series, The Names of Our Tears, to Denise Roy at Plume. The series was launched by Ohio University Press and Roy, a fan of the line, licensed the first seven books, repackaging and rereleasing them on a monthly schedule since last September. The success of the titles—they have been B&N bestsellers—pushed Roy to buy Names, which follows two Amish girls who, while vacationing in Florida, are pulled into a drug-running operation.

Correction
In last week's column, Joan Heilbroner's iconic 1962 children's book was incorrectly cited as Robert the Race Horse; the correct title is Robert the Rose Horse. Heilbroner is also 89, not 82.