Morrow Nabs Lehane Trilogy
Bestselling author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) inked a deal for three new novels with his editor at William Morrow, Claire Wachtel. The North American rights deal, brokered by Lehane’s agent, Ann Rittenberg of the Ann Rittenberg Agency, is for three works which feature recurring characters.The first book uses the Blackfriar’s Massacre (which happened in the author’s hometown of Boston in 1978) as its jumping off point. The massacre, carried off by the Irish mafia, is named after the bar where the hits took place, and the men behind the job, which is thought to be linked to a cocaine deal gone bad, were never found. Lehane said the books will use a crime “reminiscent” of Blackfriar’s “but not, in a factual sense, based on it.” The first book in the deal, which is still untitled, is scheduled for fall 2013.
Meyers Goes to Atria
Randy Susan Meyers sold her next two books to Atria, at auction. Stéphanie Abou at Foundry Literary + Media brokered the world English deal with Greer Hendricks; the first book is tentatively titled Paper Baby. Meyers’s most recent book, The Murderer’s Daughter, which St. Martin’s published in January 2010, was an international bestseller. Paper Baby, about three women brought together over one child, is set for a January 2013 publication.
Thomas Dunne Goes to Nola with Castro
Mitchell Waters at Curtis Brown sold North American rights to Joy Castro’s debut novel, Hell or High Water, to Karyn Marcus at Thomas Dunne Books. Castro, who writes about a reporter trying to unravel a missing persons case in post-Katrina New Orleans in Hell, drew praise for her 2005 memoir, The Truth Book, which was published by Arcade and selected as an ABA Book Sense Notable Book. Hell is slated for spring 2012.
Walden Enters Healy’s 'Kingdom’
Jordan Brown at Walden Pond Press paid six figures, in a pre-empt, for a middle-grade series by debut author Christopher Healy. The first book is called The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. Cheryl Pientka at Jill Grinberg Literary Management negotiated the three-book deal; the series is set in a fantasy world where multiple Prince Charmings are having relationship issues with their respective girlfriends: Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty. The first book in the series is scheduled to be a lead title on Walden’s 2012 list.
Twelve Gets Wined-Up with Potter
Cary Goldstein at Twelve pre-empted world rights to Maximillian Potter’s first book, A Shadow in the Vineyard. The nonfiction work, expanded from an article Potter wrote for Vanity Fair, looks at a crime that threatened the famous Burgundy vineyard Domaine de la Romanée Conti, which is known for producing some of the world’s finest (and priciest) wine. Potter, who is the executive editor of the Denver magazine 5280, uses the crime as an entry point to examine, as Goldstein explained, “a year in the life of the DRC: growing the precious grapes, making the superlative wines, the eye-popping auctions that follow, and, of course, tasting the wines that have, literally, made believers in a holy presence out of the most skeptical of souls.” Larry Weissman, of Larry Weissman Literary, represented Potter; the book does not yet have a publication date.
