Moran Takes ‘Empress’ to Touchstone
Heather Lazare, who left Crown last year for a senior editor job at Touchstone, is bringing her author Michelle Moran to her new imprint. Moran signed a two-book deal with Lazare, brokered by Writers House’s Dan Lazar. (Moran’s five previous historical novels include Nefertiti and Madame Tussaud.) The first book in the deal, The Empress of India, follows Queen Lakshmi, who led the military defense of her country against British invaders in the mid-19th century. Lazare took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights, and Empress is set for spring 2014.

Rodale Thinks ‘Thin’ with Harvard Crew
Rodale has acquired a new diet book, from a team of Harvard M.D.s, called Thinfluence: Unlocking the Power of Your Relationships and Environment to Achieve Your Perfect Weight. Executive editor Patricia Calvo and associate editor Natalie Lescroart took world rights to the book, which will be written by Walter Willett (an M.D./Dr.P.H. and expert on obesity and health, who teaches at both Harvard’s school of public health and its medical school), Malissa Wood (an M.D. who went to Harvard Medical School and now heads a women’s health program at Massachusetts General Hospital) and journalist Dan Childs. Agent Linda Konner, of the Linda Konner Agency, brokered the deal. Rodale said the book will “reveal how our personal relationships, workplace, the media we consume, and the community in which we live, all affect our chances of having a healthy weight.” The house added that the book will offer readers details on how to change the things blocking them from losing weight. The book will be published in partnership with Harvard Health Publications, the media/publishing division of the university.

Cabot Closes Double
Bestselling novelist Olen Steinhauer has signed a new three-book deal with Minotaur. Agent Stephanie Cabot, at the Gernert Company, did the North American rights deal with editorial director Kelley Ragland (who’s edited the author’s last eight books). The first book in the deal, which the publisher said is “set against the backdrop of the Arab Spring in Libya,” follows the wife of an American diplomat who, after witnessing his murder, is forced to go on the run. The currently untitled novel is scheduled, tentatively, for fall 2013.

In a second deal, Cabot sold Sarah-Kate Lynch’s novel The Wedding Bees to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow. Kahan took world English rights (excluding New Zealand) to the book, which Cabot likened to the films Amélie and Chocolat, calling it a novel about “finding love, letting go, and the magic of rooftop honey in Alphabet City.” Lynch is from New Zealand and has written the bestsellers Dolci Di Love and House of Daughters.

Atria Locks in Thor for Three More
Sanford J. Greenburger’s Heidi Lange negotiated another three-book deal for Brad Thor at Atria’s Emily Bestler Books imprint. The eponymous editor took world English rights in the deal, and Louise Burke at Pocket will be handling the paperback editions of the titles. Thor’s next book with S&S, Black List (which is the author’s 12th thriller featuring the former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath), is coming out on July 24.

SMP Locks In Stevens
Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin’s Press signed Chevy Stevens to a North American rights three-book deal. Mel Berger at William Morris Endeavor represented Stevens, whose first novel, Still Missing, was published by SMP in 2010 and won the Best First Novel award from the International Thriller Writers association. That book, Enderlin said, was a breakout hit, which, she noted, “has also been a major bestseller in Germany and England.” Stevens’s next book with SMP, Always Watching (covered under her previous contract), is scheduled for summer 2013.

Glusman, Leadon Stroll the Great White Way |
John Glusman at Norton took North American rights, at auction, to Fran Leadon's Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles. Agent Howard Morhaim, who has an eponymous shingle, represented Leadon in the deal. Leadon teaches architecture at New York’s City College and coauthored the fifth edition of the AIA Guide to New York City. In the new book, which chronicles a period from the 17th century to the present day, Glusman said the author “tells a fascinating history of New York through its most celebrated thoroughfare.” Broadway is slated for spring 2015.