HarperCollins snares early Higgins police thriller trilogy

HarperCollins is releasing a previously out of print police thriller trilogy by The Eagle Has Landed author Jack Higgins as a single volume.

David Brawn, publisher of estates, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown for Hell is Always Today. Originally published more than 50 years ago, the book completes a trilogy that is being reimagined as a complete novel for publication on 5th August. Entitled Graveyard to Hell, the hardback includes a new foreword by Mike Ripley and is also being released in e-book and audio.

Higgins was a soldier and then a teacher before becoming a writer in 1949. The Eagle Has Landed turned him into an international bestselling author and his novels have since sold over 250 million copies and been translated into 60 languages, according to HarperCollins. He concluded the 22-book Sean Dillon series in 2017 with The Midnight Bell (HarperCollins). Now retired from writing, he lives in Jersey.

Graveyard to Hell introduces Nick Miller – Central Division’s maverick Detective Sergeant. Disliked and distrusted by friends and foes, he works alone, he crosses the line, and he gets results.

Higgins said: “I am thrilled to see my books featuring Nick Miller are going to be re-published as a trilogy. I hope very much that new and younger readers will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them.”

Brawn, said: “A blend of police procedural and action thriller, this gritty police saga contains all the hallmarks of the classic Jack Higgins adventure, set in the dark streets of 1960s Britain. It was typically innovative storytelling from Higgins, anticipating the popularity of 'The Sweeney' when the country was still living on a diet of 'Dixon of Dock Green'. And it’s very fresh – the characters and situations are as vivid as anything from 'Luther' or 'Line of Duty'.”