DEAL OF THE WEEK

Minotaur Goes All In for Hit Spanish Series

In a world English rights agreement for a six-figure sum, Keith Kahla at St. Martin’s Press’s Minotaur imprint preempted Juan Gómez-Jurado’s trilogy, The Red Queen. The series has become a runaway hit in Spain, where it was first published over two years ago; SMP said the thrillers that make up the trilogy (in English Red Queen, Black Wolf, and White King) have sold more than 1.5 million copies. The series follows a gifted freelance crime solver named Antonia Scott, known as the Red Queen for her ability to quickly and accurately assess crime scenes, who’s forced out of retirement to solve a series of grisly murders. Rights to the series have also sold in a number of other foreign deals in, among other countries, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Thomas Colchie at the Colchie Agency negotiated the agreement with Kahla on behalf of the primary agent, Antonia Kerrigan at the Antonia Kerrigan Literary Agency, and the author. Minotaur will publish The Red Queen in winter 2023.

 

S&S Hits the ‘Road’ with Leahy

Patrick Leahy, Democratic senator of Vermont, sold his memoir, The Road Taken, to Simon & Schuster. The book, set for April 2022, was acquired by Stuart Roberts in a world rights agreement from Robert B. Barnett and Emily Alden at Williams & Connolly. S&S said the book, from the Senate’s most senior member, portrays “a life lived on the front lines of American politics.” The publisher elaborated that Leahy takes readers “inside the room” for a series of notable moments in the country’s history, from the post-Watergate reform era to “Congress’s role in greenlighting a disastrous war in Iraq” and both impeachment trials of Donald Trump.

B’bury Nabs ‘Miniaturist’ Companion

Jonathan Lee, in his first acquisition as editorial director at Bloomsbury, preempted North American rights to Jessie Burton’s historical novel, The House of Fortune. Bloomsbury is calling the novel a “standalone companion” to Burton’s 2014 bestseller The Miniaturist (Ecco), which was adapted into a miniseries by the BBC. (Bloomsbury said The Miniaturist has sold two million copies worldwide.) Fortune shares a setting (17th-century Amsterdam) and characters with its predecessor, following, Bloomsbury said, “what happens to Thea Brandt and her family 18 years later.” (Thea is the niece of the heroine from the first novel, Nella, who, at 18, is sent from her small village to marry Johannes Brandt. The title refers to a person Nella engages with after being given money by her husband to furnish an elaborate dollhouse he’s given her.) Burton was represented by Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency, who brokered the deal with Lee on behalf of London-based agent Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment. Fortune, which Bloomsbury said “will appeal equally to fans of Hilary Mantel and Susanna Clarke,” is slated for 2022.

HC 360 to Pub Markson’s Wuhan Exposé

For HarperCollins 360, Helen Littleton at HarperCollins Australia bought world rights to investigative journalist Sharri Markson’s What Really Happened in Wuhan. The title, set to be released in the U.S. on September 28, exposes, HC said, China’s early attempts to cover up what happened in the city where Covid-19 was first discovered, and is “part thriller, part exposé.” The author, who did not use an agent in the deal, is a writer at the Australian newspaper, which, like HC, is owned by News Corp. She has been covering Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Suskind’s ‘Parent’ to Dutton

In a world rights acquisition, Dutton’s Stephen Morrow bought Dana Suskind’s Parent Nation. The book, slated for April 2022, was sold by David McCormick at McCormick Literary, and, Dutton said, is about “the neuroscience of early childhood development” and shows “how and why society must come together to help parents meet the developmental needs of their children.” Suskind is the founder and codirector of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago.