David Lagercrantz to Write Further Millennium Novels

David Lagercrantz has been contracted to write two more novels in the Millennium Series, continuing Stieg Larsson’s world-renown trilogy and Lagercrantz’ own freestanding sequel Det som inte dödar oss/The Girl in the Spider’s Web.

“This is something I just cannot resist. It was a tremendous joy to write The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and such a breathtaking adventure. Furthermore I believe that I have a really good story for a continuation”, David Lagercrantz says.

Stieg Larsson’s books have sold 82 Million copies world-wide and David Lagercrantz’ The Girl in the Spider’s Web has sold 2,5 Million copies and topped the charts all over the world since its international launch, on August 27. The UK edition has sold over 400,000 copies. Sales for the Stieg Larsson novels have seen a revival after the launch of Lagercrantz’ book.

“The response from readers have been overwhelmingly positive, all over the world. We are happy and grateful that David Lagercrantz has carried on the universe and the characters that Stieg created. Now we are anticipating with excitement how he will continue the story”, says Joakim Larsson, who manages his brother Stieg’s estate.

The fifth novel will be published in 2017, and the sixth book tentatively in 2019, both by Norstedts Publishing House, Sweden, by agreement with Hedlund Agency.

For interview requests and other information, please contact:

Hannah Robinson on hannah.robinson@quercusbooks.co.uk or 0207 096 8332

www.maclehosepress.com

Criminal Splatterings!!!!

The Broadcast Press Guild Awards have been announced and according to the BBC crime dramas The Fall, Broadchurch and Top of the Lake have all been nominated.  They are all up for four prizes including best drama.  The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 28 March.

According to the BBC crime writer Lynda La Plante is writing a prequel to her incredibly successful series Prime Suspect.  The book will be published in 2015 and the TV adaptation will air in 2016, the 25th anniversary year of Prime Suspect and will start when Tennison joins the force in the late 1970s or early 1980s.  More information can be found on the Guardian website.

The BBC Two have also announced that they have commissioned London Spy a new 5 part spy thriller by author Tom Robb Smith.  Shooting will start this year with transmission taking place on BBC Two in 2015.  More information can be found here.  The is also a really interesting interview by Jake Kerridge in the Telegraph with Tom Rob Smith and he explains about writing his latest novel The Farm  off the back of his mother’s serious illness which resulted in her being admitted to an asylum for a period of time.

For those that enjoy watching the legal drama Silk the BBC have announced a third series. More information can be read here.

Shetland the drama series based on the novels of Ann Cleeves is set to return to the BBC for a second series.  The three two part series will be based on the novels Raven Black, Dead Water and Blue Lightning.

The 2014 Northern Crime Writing Competition is open for submissions.  Entry fees for the competition are: £25 for the novels and £10 for short stories. To find out more about the competition go to the Moth Publishing website.  The winning novels will be published in print and as e-books in 2015. The winning writers will receive a standard publishing contract, a £1,000 advance, and support to editorially develop their work. They will also enjoy a marketing and PR campaign to support the publication of their books. Short story winners will get £100 and their story published in the very first Northern Crime Short Story Anthology.

The finalists for the 34th annual L.A. Times Book Prizes were announced on Wednesday 19 February.  The full list can be found here but the Mystery /Thriller nominations are as follows –

Hour of the Red God by Richard Crompton (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown & Co.)
Sycamore Row by John Grisham (Doubleday Books)
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (Europa Editions)
The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach, (Viking)

Huge congratulations to (one of my favourite author’s) Italian Crime Writer Andrea Camilleri who was recently awarded the Pepe Carvalho Prize for lifetime work at the BCNegra noir literary festival in Barcelona.  The Pepe Carvalho prize is named after the protagonist of the Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s detective novels. Camilleri named his protagonist after Montalbán. See here for more information from the L.A. Times.

The winner of the £5,000 Telegraph Harvill Secker crime writing competition for an unpublished manuscript is Abir Mukherjee. His novel, A Rising Man, is set in Calcutta in the dying days of the Raj and opens with the brutal murder of a British burra sahib. Mukherjee's submission was picked from a pool of 400 submissions.

Crime Story a new festival for crime fiction lovers, is coming to Newcastle at the University of Northumbria on May 31st. The organizers have added a fun twist: they've commissioned author Ann Cleeves to invent a fictional crime which will then be investigated by various experts including forensic scientists, police detectives and legal eagles.  Authors Louise Welsh, Margaret Murphy (A D Garrett) and Peter Guttridge will also be in attendance.  More information can also be found here.

According to Deadline.Com Dennis Lehane is adapting the Douglas Perry's new biography, Eliot Ness: The Rise And Fall Of An American Hero, for WGN America. The project chronicles the two decades of the famed prohibition agent following his take-down of Al Capone.

Jada Pinkett Smith has also signed up to be the villain in the Batman prequel Gotham.  According to Deadline.com Gotham which has a series commitment is based on DC characters from the Batman universe and explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon (McKenzie) as an idealistic rookie detective in Gotham City, along with Bruce Wayne and the villains who made Gotham City famous. Smith will play Fish Mooney, an imposing, hotheaded and notoriously sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner with street smarts and almost extra-sensory abilities to read people like an open book who is not one to be crossed.

According to Deadline.Com Debra Messing who is best known in the UK for the comedy Will and Grace is set to star in the NBC pilot The Mysteries of Laura which is  based on the popular Spanish series Los Misterios De Laura, The Mysteries Of Laura follows the life and relationships of Laura Diamond (Messing), a female homicide detective who can handle murderous criminals — but not her hell-raising twin children.

Deadline is also reporting that Rose Rollins is set as one of the leads in TNT's legal drama pilot Guilt By Association, based on the novels by former prosecutor Marcia Clark, while Jamey Sheridan, (Homeland) has been cast in TNT's action-drama pilot Agent X, starring Sharon Stone.

ITV has commissioned an eighth series of Inspector Lewis with Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox reprising their roles as Oxford detectives. This series will find Hathaway (Laurence Fox) has been promoted to Inspector after an extended break from the force, with the retired Lewis (Kevin Whately) drafted back to renew their partnership.

In the Independent Boyd Tonkin interviews Eva Gabrielsson about Stieg Larsson’s legacy and the announcement that there is to be a fourth book written by David Lagercrantz.

Newsy Stuff

Crimefest have announced their Awards shortlist –

The awards will be given out at Cimefest during the Gala Dinner at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel on Saturday, 22 May. The Awards are as follows -

eDUNNIT AWARD
The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in the UK in 2009.

The award is sponsored by Reader from Sony and the winning author receives £1,000 and a Sony eReader. The winner also receives a commemorative award provided by Bristol Blue Glass.

eDunnit Award nominees:
Josh Bazell for Beat The Reaper (Random House)
Steve Berry for The Charlemagne Pursuit (Hodder & Stoughton)
Juan Gomez-Jurado for Contract With God (Orion)
Bernard Knight for Crowner Royal (Simon & Schuster)
Carol McCleary for The Alchemy of Murder (Hodder & Stoughton)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and leading British crime fiction reviewers voted for the winning title from the shortlisted entries containing additional econtent.

One CrimeFest delegate whose vote coincides with the winning title will be randomly selected and receives an eReader courtesy of Sony.

THE LAST LAUGH AWARD

The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2009. The £500 award is sponsored by Goldsboro Books, Britain's book collector's bookseller. The winner also receives a commemorative award provided by Bristol Blue Glass.

Last Laugh Award nominees:
Colin Bateman for The Day of the Jack Russell (Headline)
Josh Bazell for Beat the Reaper (Random House)
Chris Ewan for The Good Thief's Guide to Paris (Long Barn Books)
Suzette Hill for Bone Idle (Constable & Robinson)
Malcolm Pryce for From Aberystwyth with Love (Bloomsbury)
Len Tyler for Ten Little Herrings (Macmillan)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and leading British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.
One CrimeFest delegate whose vote coincides with the winning title will be randomly selected and receives copies of the shortlisted titles.

SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARDS


The Sounds of Crime Awards are for the best abridged and unabridged crime audiobooks first published in the UK in 2009 in both printed and digital formats, and available for download from the Audible UK website. The Bristol Blue commemorative award goes to both the author and the reader of he winning entry.

The Sounds of Crime Awards are sponsored by Audible UK, the Internet's leading premium spoken audio source.

Nominees for Best Abridged Crime Audiobook:
Dan Brown for The Lost Symbol (abridged by Karen DiMattia). Reader: Paul Michael (Orion)
Lee Child for Gone Tomorrow (abridged by Carolanne Lyme). Reader: Kerry Shale (Random House)
Peter James for Dead Tomorrow (abridged by Kati Nicholl). Reader: William Gaminara (Pan Macmillan)
Stieg Larsson for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (translated by Reg Keeland; abridged by Isabel Morgan). Reader: Martin Wenner (Quercus)
Stieg Larsson for The Girl Who Played with Fire (translated by Reg Keeland; abridged by Isabel Morgan). Reader: Martin Wenner (Quercus)
Ian Rankin for The Complaints (abridged by Kati Nicholl). Reader: James Macpherson (Orion)

Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:

Dan Brown for The Lost Symbol. Reader: Paul Michael (Whole Story Audio Books)
Michael Connelly for The Scarecrow. Reader: Peter Giles (Orion)
Peter James for Dead Tomorrow. Reader: David Bauckham (Whole Story Audio Books)
Stieg Larsson for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (translated by Reg Keeland). Reader: Saul Reichlin (Whole Story Audio Books)
Stieg Larsson for The Girl Who Played with Fire (translated by Reg Keeland). Reader: Saul Reichlin (Whole Story Audio Books)
Ian Rankin for The Complaints. Reader: Peter Forbes (Whole Story Audio Books)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and Audible UK customers and recipients of the CrimeFest newsletter voted to establish the shortlists and winners. One Audible UK customer or CrimeFest delegate whose votes coincides with the winning titles will be randomly selected and receives an iPod and the shortlisted titles. More info about the conference can be found here.

Forthcoming books to look forward to -

Orion are due to publish The Somnabulist the debut novel by Essie Fox. It is said to be a gripping Victorian Gothic mystery that is wonderfully commercial with shades of Sarah Waters and Diane Setterfield, along with nods to Wilkie Collins and Charlotte Bronte. Orion have also acquired the rights to the debut novel of thriller writer and ex-MI6 field operative Matthew Dunn. in a substantial pre-emptive deal for three books. All three will feature Dunn's charismatic British MI6 operator Will Cochrane. The debut novel is entitled, Megiddo after the codename of the book's villain. Megiddo will be published in hardback in July 2011. More information can be found here.

Craig Russell has been contracted to produce two more books in his Lennox series for Quercus Publishers. The first book in the series Lennox was contracted by Jane Wood back in 2008. Information can be found here. Jane wood has also acquired the rights to six of Tony Park’s African standalone thrillers. Information regarding this can be found here. The first to be published will be Silent Predator in November 2010.

The Watermen by Patrick Easter is the first of a new historical series by a debut author and is set around the London docks in the late 18th Century. The Waterman introduces Tom Pascoe a patrolman with the Marine Police, Britain's first organised Police Force and will be published by Quercus.

Poolbeg Press, Ireland are due to publish Murder at Shandy Hill by Michael Sheridan’s and is an account of a sensational Victorian murder played out with a potent mix of love, betrayal, lust and naked hatred – said to be Ireland's answer to The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

Simon & Schuster are due to publish Babylon Nights – the second novel by Daniel Depp which sees private investigator David Spandau hired as bodyguard to a Hollywood actress at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Courier by Ava McCarthy is the follow up to The Insider, which sold in 12 territories. Feisty heroine Harry Martinez witnesses a brutal murder and uncovers a trail of diamond-smuggling which takes her from exclusive horse racing society in Ireland to the brutal world of jewel mining in South Africa. The Courier is due to be published by HarperCollins. They are also due to publish The Woodcutter a standalone novel by Reginald Hill

Random House are due to publish A Dance of Ghosts by Kevin Brooks. A Dance of Ghosts introduces readers to Essex-based private detective John Craine. Brooks is better known as a young adult writer.

The debut novel by Gerry O'Carroll, a legendary Irish detective is The Gathering of Souls. This is the first in a series featuring Detectives Moss Quinn and Joe Doyle and is due to be published by Liberties Press, Ireland. The Gathering of Souls is an authentic, dark tale of obsession, revenge and redemption.

Doubleday are due to publish The Fat Years by Chan Koon-Chung. Said to be the Chinese version of Nineteen Eighty-Four it has been banned in mainland China and follows a writer, obsessed with detective stories as he goes on a quest to uncover the events of a month mysteriously absent from official Chinese records. The Fat Years will be published in the summer of 2011.

From Little Brown Publishers comes Tania Carver’s second novel The Creeper in September 2010 and in January 2011 The Stonehenge Legacy by Sam Christer. In The Stonehenge Legacy a policewoman and an Oxford historian investigate the murder of a man found at Stonehenge.

Macmillan will publish James Herbert’s Ash in October 2010 and it features his most popular character David Ash, the sceptical paranormal detective. David Jackson’s Pariah is due to be published by Macmillan and is out in March 2011. It is a slick, edgy and cinematic novel following New York Police Detective Callum Doyle as he battles to save his family – and himself – from a dangerous and mysterious killer. Also forthcoming from them is Brian McGilloway’s new novel Little Girl Lost in April 2011. Brian McGilloway who is better known for his excellent Inspector Devlin Series introduces readers to his first female lead in Detective Lucy Vaughan.

Serpent’s Tail are due to publish Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty in March 2011. In Falling Glass Killian a Northern Ireland enforcer finds himself in the world of cross and double-cross as he searches for the wife and daughter of a businessman.

After a seven year hiatus Tom Clancy will have his first book published in December 2010. The book Dead or Alive will be published simultaneously in the US and in the UK.

The world’s fascination with Stieg Larsson does not seem to be abating. Columbia Pictures a subsidiary of Sony Corp have bought the movie rights to Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. They will be working alongside Yellow Bird AB who made the Swedish language versions of the films. More information can be found in the following article.

Ridley Scott the director of Gladiator is due to adapt Richard Harris’s novel Pompeii into a four hour mini-series. More information can be found here.

China Miéville’s novel The City and The City has won the British Science Fiction Award for best novel. The City and The City is story of a murder investigation in parallel worlds. The full article can be found here. The City and The City has also been nominated for the 2010 Hugo Awards Best Novel. The 2010 Hugo Awards will be presented in Melbourne, Australia during Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention. The Hugo Awards Ceremony will take place on Sunday 5 September 2010.

Newsy Stuff

2010 is shaping up to be a great year for Val McDermid. Not only is she being awarded the Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association but also her novel A Darker Domain is shortlisted in the Mystery/Thriller section of the Los Angeles Book Prizes. A full list of the nominees in the various categories can be found here. The prizes will be awarded in an invitation-only ceremony in connection with the 15th annual L A Times Festival of Books, which takes place April 24-25

In an excellent article in the Irish Independent Declan Burke explains why he believes that unlike in 2009 which was the year of the male Irish crime writer this year he feels that it is the turn of the female Irish crime writer. The full article can be found here.

Jane Wood of Quercus Publishers has brought the rights to the first two books in a 18th Century historical series by debut author Patrick Easter. The first book in the series The Waterman will be published in Spring 2011. More information can be found here.

Karin Slaughter has written an interesting article in the Huffington Post on whether ebooks will create an elite reading class. The full article can be found here.

The saga of Stieg Larsson rumbles on. Rebecca Cooke of the Observer interviews Eva Gabrielsson's his partner of 32 years who shared his life and is now trying to protect his work amidst a bitter battle with his family. The interview can be found here.

So you think you know the ten rules of writing fiction? Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing fiction a number of authors have been asked for their versions. Part one can be found here and part two here.

China Miéville’s surreal foray into crime fiction with his novel The City and The City has been shortlisted for the Nebula Awards the major American science fiction and fantasy awards. More information can be found in the Guardian article. The winner will be revealed on 15 May.

Nicholas Wroe interviews Henning Mankell in the Guardian about a life in writing.

According to Variety.com Angelina Jolie is to play Dr Kay Scarpetta the heroine of Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels. The latest novel Scarpetta was published in December 2009.,

Newsy stuff

Sherlock Holmes

It appears that the copyright issues surrounding the Sherlock Holmes books of the late Sir Arthur Conan is not that straightforward and there still seems to be some dispute of who actually owns the rights. Two different takes on the issue can be found here and here.


Stieg Larrson

As well as having three books in the best sellers list on both sides of the Atlantic, this year will also see a number of books being published about the late author’s life. Among the boks to be published will one by the crime critic Barry Forshaw (John Blake publishers), and Larsson's own publishers, Quercus. There is also a possibility that his partner Eva Gabrielsson will also be writing about her life with the author. More information may be found here.

The appeal of Nordic crime and Henning Mankell’s Man from Beijing

A rather interesting article in the Independent newspaper about the appeal of crime novels from Nordic writers,a list of Nordic authors to read, and a review of Henning Mankell’s latest book. The article can be found James Patterson Inc

The New York Times reveals how many people it takes to look after the best-selling author James Patterson and his numerous books.

Newsy Stuff

Comic Crime writer Christopher Brookmyre has been shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize. Christopher Brookmyre is a previous winner of this award. He won it in 2006 with his novel All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye. This year the nominated book is A Snowball in Hell. See here for further information.

According to the Sunday Times, the former partner of the best selling author Stieg Laarson is currently locked in battle with the family over the crime writer's fortune. See here for further information.

Radio 4 is going to be having a Le Carre-fest as it starts to dramatise all of John Le Carré's eight Smiley novels on the radio. Radio 4 will begin the dramastisation on Radio 4 on Saturday (23 May) with the Call of the Dead. The other books that are due to be dramatised will be A Murder of Quality, The Spy who came in from the Cold The Looking Glass War, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People and the Secret Pilgrim. See here for further information.