Hyperion Acquires Moehringer Novel
J.R. Moehringer is returning to the team that helped make his memoir, The Tender Bar, a critically acclaimed bestseller. Hyperion president and publisher Ellen Archer acquired North American and e-book rights to an untitled novel based on the life of famed bank robber Willie Sutton from Mort Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit. In researching the book, Moehringer examined the files of the New York Police Department and the FBI, and conducted interviews with the descendants of Sutton and Arnold Schuster. A crime buff, Schuster spotted Sutton on a Brooklyn subway which led to his arrest; three weeks later an unknown gunman shot Schuster outside of his house. Archer called the novel a "suspenseful, funny, sad, and bawdy tale—so wonderfully strange it could only be true." Pub date is fall 2012.

Margolin Commits Murder for HarperCollins
Phillip Margolin is remaining at HarperCollins with a new two-book, seven-figure deal with Harper senior v-p and publisher Jonathan Burnham. The first title, Capitol Murder, is the final novel in Margolin's Washington, D.C., trilogy (Executive Privilege; Supreme Justice) and involves a terrorist plot to blow up the home of the Redskins, the escape of serial killer Clarence Little, and investigator Dana Cutler's search for a missing U.S. senator. The second book is The Praetorian Conspiracy. Burnham acquired North American rights to both novels from agent Jean Naggar.

Mafia Daughter to SMP
Karen Gravano, daughter of Mafia hit man Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, has signed with St. Martin's Press for a memoir. The six-figure pre-empt for world rights was negotiated by SMP executive editor Charles Spicer with Joe Veltre of the Gersh Agency. Gravano's father gained fame for testifying against legendary mob boss John Gotti as part of the trial that put Gotti away for life (and made Sammy a bestselling author). In her untitled memoir, Gravano will discuss how her life changed after her father went into the witness protection program and then went to prison to protect both Karen and her brother. And, beginning in April, Gravano will star in a VH1 reality show, Mob Wives, which will show how four women cope after their father or husband has gone to jail. Gravano is writing the memoir with Lisa Pulitzer (Stolen Innocence).

Morrow Lands Jackson
Morrow senior v-p and executive editor Carolyn Marino has long been a fan of Joshilyn Jackson, and Marino has now signed the novelist to a three-book, world rights deal brokered by agent Jacques de Spoelberch of J. de S. Associates. The Georgia-based Jackson has been an indie favorite, and her previous novels (which include Gods in Alabama and The Girl Who Stopped Swimming), published by Grand Central, have been mainstays on the SIBA lists. Her first book for Morrow, Circle K, is set for early 2012 and is the story of a lonely man, and a 21-year-old woman and her four-year-old son, whose lives intersect during the robbery of a local convenience store.

Aladdin Gets MIST-y
There are lots of zombies in New York City, and 13-year-old Molly Bigelow is tracking them down. That is the premise of a new middle-grade series acquired by Simon & Schuster Children/Aladdin's editorial director, Fiona Simpson. Rosemary Stimola, of Stimola Literary Studio, brokered the two-book, North American rights deal for screenwriter James Ponti. Assisting Molly in her zombie-hunting are three friends from the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology. Stimola described the books as blending "the humorous and the macabre, action and pathos." Book one in the series, called Mist, is tentatively set for summer 2012 with the second title to follow a year later.

Lyons Enters the Hall of Shame
Doug Grad of the Doug Grad Literary Agency was an editor of the Hall of Shame series during its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s; now he is helping to bring the franchise back, selling world rights to the tentatively titled The Baseball Hall of Shame's Most Outrageous Moments of All Time to Lyons Press editor Keith Wallman. The coauthors of the series, Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo, are writing the new book. Wallman, a fan of the original books, which include football, golf, and basketball as well as baseball, said the latest edition contains goofy batting moments, base-running fiascoes, and the dumbest baseball promotions among the wacky things that have taken place in the American pastime over the past 20 years. A March 2012 pub date is planned.

Briefs
Bill Contardi at Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents has closed a 10-book deal with Summit Entertainment of Twilight Saga fame for the dramatic rights to bestselling author Alyson Noel's YA paranormal series The Immortals and its spinoff, the Riley Bloom Books. The Immortals line has nearly five million copies in print, and the sixth and final book in the series, Everlasting (St. Martin's Griffin), is scheduled for June. (The Immortals series has also been a worldwide hit, translated into 36 languages.) The middle grade Riley Bloom series features the younger sister in The Immortals series.