Craven's The Puppet Show snapped up for TV

M W Craven’s new crime thriller has been snapped up for a TV adaptation.

Studio Lambert, producers of the award-winning BBC1 drama “Three Girls”, have acquired the TV rights to the former probation officer’s forthcoming novel The Puppet Show (Constable), from Emily Hayward-Whitlock at The Artists Partnership on behalf of D H H Literary Agency.

The title is the first in a two-book deal signed by Constable ahead of London Book Fair last year, forming a new series from Craven featuring Washington Poe, a cynical Detective Sergeant and colleague Tilly Bradshaw, as they investigate a series of murders that take place in and around the ancient moorlands and stone circles of Cumbria. The Puppet Show will be published in June 2018.

Craven, who was born in Cumbria, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Studio Lambert have optioned the rights to The Puppet Show. I met with Susan Hogg (head of drama) and Madeleine Sinclair (head of development) last May, and knew immediately that Studio Lambert’s track record of producing hard-hitting and innovative drama meant that they were the perfect home for Poe and Tilly.”

Hogg said: “Reading The Puppet Show, we were immediately drawn to the brilliant and surprising partnership of Detective Washington Poe and analyst Tilly Bradshaw. Mike Craven has created a distinctive, darkly humorous and compelling series that we can’t wait to develop for British and worldwide television viewers.”

Craven’s previous books in the DI Avison Fluke series were published by independent press Caffeine Nights Publishing.