Joffe seizes tales of 'murder, mystery and thwarted romance' in raft of acquisitions

Joffe Books has landed a police procedural by Mark Mills, a "darkly twisting" thriller by Stephen Williams, a trilogy of detective novels from Adam Lyndon and a debut novel from radio talk show host C J Connolly.

The quartet are the first in a raft of acquisitions made by publishing director Kate Lyall Grant, who joined the independent press in November. 

From Euan Thorneycroft at A M Heath, Lyall Grant acquired world English rights in Collision, the first in an "intriguing" new police procedural series by Bafta-nominated screenwriter and author Mills. The story follows Florence Winslow, who awakes in hospital to the news that she has killed a man. En route to a reunion with her estranged in-laws, she was involved in a fatal collision with an unknown driver. "But to accident investigator Dylan Bodine, something doesn’t add up. Was Florence targeted deliberately? And if so, why?" reads the synopsis.

From Anne-Marie Doulton at the Ampersand Agency, Lyall Grant has acquired world English rights in Under The Skin by Williams, author of Tuesday Falling (One More Chapter). "Under The Skin is a darkly twisting thriller which introduces an exciting new female detective partnership in DI Mary Hume and former Met officer turned private investigator Raine, who must team up to hunt down a ruthless serial killer who is terrorising London, leaving a series of numbers carved on the skin of his unfortunate victims," the synopsis states. "If Raine and Hume can crack the code, they will have the key to identifying the killer."

She acquired world rights from the author in the first three "hard-hitting thrillers" featuring Eastbourne-based police detective Rutherford Barnes by Adam Lyndon (pictured right), the pseudonym of a serving police superintendent. In the first in the series, Devils Chimney, newly-promoted DC Barnes uncovers a trail of greed, corruption and over-reaching ambition when he investigates the brutal murder of a colleague.

Finally, from Victoria Skurnick at the Levine Greenberg Rostan Agency, Grant acquired world English rights in the debut novel of former journalist and radio talk show host C J Connolly. Said to appeal to fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife (Vintage) and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Maybe in Another Life (Washington Square Press) "this heartbreaking love story will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered what would have happened if they’d made a different choice in life", according to the synopsis.

Grant said “I’ve barely had time to draw breath in the eight weeks since I started at Joffe; it’s been a real roller-coaster – in a good way. I am so thrilled to be bringing these four very different, but equally exciting authors to the Joffe Books list, and I’m looking forward to working with my brilliant new Joffe colleagues to ensure that these gripping tales of murder, mystery and thwarted romance reach a widespread international readership."