Lauren St John moves to MCB in four-book deal

Lauren St John is moving her middle grade mystery publishing to Macmillan Children's Books after signing a six-figure four-book deal. 

St John, previously published by Orion Children's Books, will publish the first title under contract, Kat Wolfe Investigates, with MCB next spring. 

The world rights deal was brokered by Venetia Gosling, publisher of the MCB 6+ Division, who will edit St John herself, and Catherine Clarke of Felicity Bryan Associates. Macmillan plans to publish one new novel a year as a paperback original, and will be creating new branding for St John as part of the move.

The books will publish globally in South Africa, Australia, India, Germany (S Fischer Verlag) and the US, where they will appear on the Farrar, Straus & Giroux children's list, run by publisher Simon Boughton.

St John said: “I’m hugely excited to be writing Middle Grade mysteries for Macmillan, the new Publisher of the Year! I’ve long admired their creative, intelligent children’s publishing and I can’t wait to work with Venetia and her wonderful team.”

Gosling said: “Lauren St John taps in so brilliantly to a child’s yearning for adventure, of making their mark on the world – and her stories both enchant and inspire.  She writes warm, intelligent, engaging adventures which are perfect for contemporary readers, but with timeless appeal. I am thrilled to be publishing her on the Macmillan Children’s Books list.”

St John is the author of the White Giraffe series for children, the One Dollar Horse series, and the Laura Marlin mysteries, the first of which, Dead Man’s Cove, was optioned for TV by Centurion Television last year. In 2015, Canyon Creek Films bought the development rights to St John’s YA novel The Glory (Orion Children's Books). She also published her childhood memoir, Rainbow’s End, with W&N in 2012, and wrote a music biography, Hardcore Troubadour, the Life & Near Death of Steve Earle (Fourth Estate).