Pan Mac signs Jones' debut domestic thriller

Pan Macmillan has signed up newspaper and magazine journalist Sandie Jones’ debut, a “dark domestic” psychological thriller called The Other Woman.

Vicki Mellor, who joined Pan Macmillan earlier this year after a decade at Headline, bought British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to two books by Jones from Tanera Simons at the Darley Anderson Literary Agency. US rights have been pre-empted by Catherine Richards at St. Martin’s Press in a significant deal.

The Other Woman explores the destructive relationship between a woman and her boyfriend's manipulative mother from the woman’s point of view.

Mellor said she had been looking to fill the publishing space of Michelle Frances’ psychological thriller The Girlfriend, also published by Pan Macmillan. “When I started reading Sandie’s novel I knew instantly that this would perfectly fit the Michelle Frances and B. A. Paris market and that we would have a lot of fun publishing it," Mellor said. "The fact that I stayed up until 2am compulsively wanting to finish was the icing on the cake. I can’t wait for us to publish.”

Simons said The Other Woman was “chillingly compelling” and revealed she read the whole manuscript in one sitting. “Sandie is an absolute joy to work with, and I’m thrilled that she’s found a home with such a wonderful publisher,” Simons said.

Jones has 20 years’ experience writing for newspapers and magazines. She said she was “thrilled" UK and US rights had been sold to Mellor in the UK and Richards in the US. “They have a very clear vision for the book and I can't wait to see where it takes us.”

Pan Macmillan will publish the title in e-book in Spring 2018 followed with the paperback edition in Summer 2018, and publish on a yearly basis thereafter.