Bestseller Patricia Cornwell has signed a world English rights, two-book, deal with HarperCollins's William Morrow imprint. The deal marks a shift for Cornwell, who was at Penguin's G.P. Putnam's Sons imprint. David Highfill acquired the books--both will be novels in the author's ongoing series featuring the protagonist Kay Scarpetta, and the first is set for a fall 2014 release--from Esther Newberg at ICM.
Highfill, who previously was at Penguin and edited Cornwell there, worked on her 2002 nonfiction crime book Portrait of Killer, about Jack the Ripper; he has also handled a number of her Kay Scarpetta novels. Highfill said "it’s a tremendous pleasure to have the opportunity to work on these superlative novels with her again, and I couldn’t be more excited about the potential, both in the US and abroad.”
HarperCollins plans to release Cornwell's books in all its English-language territories: the U.K., Australia/New Zealand, Canada, and India.
