Candlish signs three-book deal with HQ

Louise Candlish has signed a three-book deal with HQ. Fiction publisher Kate Mills bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to the titles from Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown.

Candlish has authored 16 novels to date. Her 2018 title, Our House (Simon & Schuster) won the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year and was adapted into a four-part ITV drama. HQ will publish the first book in the new contract in spring 2024.

Candlish said: “I’m completely in awe of what HQ has achieved in its dynamic life to date, so it’s very exciting indeed to sign with Kate and the rest of this incredible team.”

Mills commented: “I’ve been a fan of Louise’s for years and in lockdown she became my reading lifeline as I devoured her backlist. She’s an incredibly consistent writer, and a truly ingenious plotter who can effortlessly dial up tension. Her novels are peopled with characters you feel you’ve met, and she’s got an uncanny knack of touching on the secret fears and desires we all conceal and exploring what happens when we give into them.”

Crowley added: “I am hugely excited about the next stage of Louise’s publishing career on the back of the acclaimed adaptation of Our House, and with many of her other books in development.”