Little, Brown takes on Ross from Peepal Tree

Little, Brown is set to publish the first two books in a Caribbean-set thriller series by award-winning novelist and poet Jacob Ross.

World rights to first two titles in the Michael ‘Digger’ Digson crime series were bought by Sphere’s fiction editorial director Ed Wood, who acquired The Bone Readers from independent publisher Peepal Tree, and its sequel from agent David Godwin.

The Bone Readers won the inaugural Jhalak Prize last year. Sphere will republish the book in a new paperback edition, e-book and audio in August with its sequel to be published next year.

Wood described Ross as “an extraordinary talent and a unique voice in the crime writing world”.

“This is forensic fiction in a way we have never seen before, cinematic Caribbean noir with a completely fresh edge,” he said.

Ross said: “When I started writing The Bone Readers, I had the modern Caribbean in mind, with real-life investigators thrown into the murky world of drug-running, abuse and crime, and for whom their island is no blissful, laid-back paradise.”

He paid tribute to Peepal Tree Press and its founder and managing editor, Jeremy Poynting, for publishing The Bone Readers initially and revealed how he was “excited to be working with the amazing team at Sphere”.

Ross is also a short story writer and tutor who was born in Grenada and has lived in the UK for over 30 years.