Bedford Square Publishers scoops Burke-Patel's 'propulsive' first book

Bedford Square Publishers has scooped Bonnie Burke-Patel’s first novel, I Died at Fallow Hall.

Publisher Carolyn Mays bought world English language rights for two novels from Jane Finigan at Lutyens & Rubinstein, and Bedford Square will publish in August 2024.

Described as "timely and thought-provoking", the synopsis of the book says that "I Died at Fallow Hall is also a propulsive read which asks the reader to question the nature of power and love". It adds: "Ex-ballerina Anna Deerin moves to an isolated Cotswolds village in order to strip back everything she has been taught about womanhood. A career spent on stage means she craves the anonymity and privacy her new off-grid life provides.

"But when Anna digs up human remains in the garden of her cottage, the outside world is readmitted, and with it, DI Hitesh Mistry. Between them, Anna and Hitesh fight to identify the unknown woman and find that this murder is inextricably bound up with gender, community, family, race and Britishness."

Mays said: "Bonnie’s ambition was to write the perfect crossover of crime novel and literary fiction and she has succeeded spectacularly. It’s a novel with many dimensions, rich layers and terrific twists, and it puts the country-house mystery into a genuinely contemporary context."