Stuart MacBride moves to Transworld

Author Stuart MacBride is moving to Transworld from HarperCollins, after the publisher triumphed in a seven-way auction for the author's next three books. 

Publishing director Frankie Gray acquired world rights to three new novels from Philip Patterson at Marjacq. Gray said: "I have been a huge fan of Stuart’s crime-writing genius for a very long time and am thrilled at the prospect of working with him on this exciting next stage. His ability to create distinctive, memorable and complex characters, to deftly balance light and dark and to pull the reader through at a pace of knots, is truly remarkable. We have ambitious plans to grow his brand and cannot wait to get started."

MacBride has sold just under 1.8 million books for £10m through Nielsen BookScan's UK Total Consumer Market, with his bestselling title the first in the Ash Henderson series, 2012’s Birthdays for the Dead, at 124,000 copies for £523,000. He has written a number of standalone novels, in addition to a children's picture book and the Logan McRae detective series. 

He said: "I have to thank HarperCollins for everything they’ve achieved over the past 15 years. It feels very strange to be leaving them, but I was so impressed with Frankie and her Transworld team that I knew it was time to take the plunge and try something new. I’m really excited to be setting out on this new phase of my career."

The first, as yet untitled, novel will be published in 2022.