A series of stylish thrillers by Harlan Coben, many of them starring sportswriter-turned-detective Myron Bolitar, have been a big hit for Dutton and internationally, and the house's publisher,
Carole Baron, has just signed him to a major deal for two more. Baron negotiated the hard/soft deal with
Lisa Erbach Vance at the Aaron Priest agency and plans to publish the first novel in 2006, edited, as usual, by
Mitch Hoffman. (Coben's next, The Innocent, will be out in May.) Meanwhile, there's Hollywood interest, too:
Joel Gotler made a deal with producer
John Calley for Columbia to make a movie based on the Bolitar character.
