Corvus takes two thrillers from Irish bestseller Sam Blake

Atlantic imprint Corvus has bagged two psychological thrillers from number one Irish Times bestseller Sam Blake.

Publishing director Sarah Hodgson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Simon Trewin of Simon Trewin Ltd.

Corvus’ first novel with Blake, Keep Your Eyes on Me, reached number one in the Irish fiction bestseller chart at the start of the year, and will be published in paperback in November. Her next novel, The Dark Room, will be published in trade paperback and e-book in January 2021.

The imprint will now continue to publish a book a year, with the newly contracted titles slated to appear in January 2022 and January 2023.

Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy, the writing resources website writing.ie, and Dublin crime fiction festival Murder One.

She said: “With Sarah and the phenomenal team at Corvus supporting me I am so excited at the thought of bringing more Sam Blake books to new readers and old.

Hodgson added: “I could not be more delighted to be continuing our publishing relationship with the inimitable Sam Blake. Not only does she write brilliantly twisty thrillers filled with engaging and relatable characters, she is highly professional and an absolute joy to work with. She’s beloved by the team at Corvus, and we look forward to taking her novels to ever greater success.”

Trewin commented: “This marks the beginning of an exciting 12 months for Sam Blake and this new UK deal with Corvus is a terrific starting point.”