Daum to Knopf

Knopf senior editor Robin Desser preempted North American rights to a new nonfiction book by Meghan Daum, Give Me Shelter; Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit made the sale. This chronicle of real estate obsession explores the relationship between solitude, independence, love and home. Daum, a columnist at the Los Angeles Times, is the author of the novel The Quality of Life Report (Viking) and the essay collection My Misspent Youth (Grove paperback). No pub date yet.

Random Wins Debut

Random editor-at-large David Ebershoff won an auction for a first novel by Teju Cole titled Open City; Scott Moyers at Wylie sold North American rights. The book is about a young half-Nigerian psychiatrist in New York City searching for his place in the world, and Ebershoff describes the writing as evocative of Sebald and Coetzee. Cole, who lived in Nigeria until age 17, is now finishing his Ph.D. in art history at Columbia. Random will publish in spring 2010.

Wiehl Sells Mystery Series

Fox News legal correspondent Lis Wiehl will team up with veteran mystery novelist April Henry to write a new mystery series titled Faith and Consequences, about three women who investigate crimes while also struggling with issues of faith. The first in the series, The D.C. Page, is set in Portland, Ore., and begins when a 17-year-old Senate page, home on Christmas break, goes missing. Thomas Nelson publisher Allen Arnold bought world rights to four books from agents Todd Shuster and Lane Zachary, on behalf of Wiehl, and Wendy Schmalz, who represented Henry. Pub date for The D.C. Page is April 2009.

Holt, Chronicle Get Foreign Bestsellers

Holt editor Sarah Knight preempted North American rights to Christian Moerk's Darling Jim; Joakim Hansson of the Nordin Agency made the six-figure sale. A bestseller in the author's native Denmark (Moerk writes in English and does his own Danish translation), the novel is a gothic tale of suspense, drawing on elements from classic mythology. Narrated largely through the diaries of two murdered sisters who had become involved with a handsome stranger, the story unfolds as a local postman reading the diaries attempts to find the mysterious survivor of the fate that claimed the sisters' lives. Moerk is a former New York Times film writer. Pub date is spring 2009.

Chronicle editorial director Jay Schaefer acquired North American rights to German author Wolfram Fleischhauer's Fatal Tango, which has more than 200,000 copies in print in Germany. This love story involves a ballerina and a tango dancer against a backdrop of personal and political intrigue in contemporary Berlin and in Buenos Aires in the aftermath of Argentina's Dirty War. Thomas Colchie made the sale on behalf of Roman Hocke at AVA International.

McEvoy to Skyhorse

PW editor Dermot McEvoy has sold his second novel, Our Lady of Greenwich Village: A Novel of Church, State Politics, and Kindred Spirits, to Tony Lyons at Skyhorse. Set during the 2000 presidential election cycle, the semi-satirical story unfolds when the Blessed Virgin Mary appears to a GOP Greenwich Village congressman and urges him to fight Roe v. Wade. Lyons published McEvoy's first novel, Terrible Angel, at the Lyons Press. Skyhorse holds world rights; the deal was unagented.

Navigating Parenthood

Penguin's Rebecca Hunt acquired a new book by Overcoming Autism authors Lynn Koegel and Claire LaZebnik via Alexis Hurley at InkWell. This presently untitled guide will help parents and teachers navigate the teenage years and offer advice on how to manage the responsibilities of college and beyond for those with some form of autism. The book will include material written by LaZebnik's son, who himself is on the autism spectrum. Viking will publish in spring 2009.

Leslie Meredith at the Free Press bought world rights to Susan Kaiser Greenland's Raising the Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid De-stress Childhood and Become a Happier, Kinder and More Compassionate Adult. Greenland is the founder of Innerkids, a program affiliated with the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA; the book is based on her mindfulness training relaxation techniques for children. Susan Rabiner made the sale, and pub date is 2009.