HQ pre-empts 'ferociously well-written' thriller from Jordan

HQ has pre-empted The Dark Hours and one other novel by Irish crime writer Amy Jordan.  

Kate Mills, publisher at HQ, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Sara O’Keeffe at Aevitas Creative Management UK. The Dark Hours is slated for publication in hardback, e-book and audio in autumn 2024. 

Set in Cork, the novel follows retired detective Julia Harte who had helped catch and convict serial killer James Cox in 1994. HQ said: “Having written a renowned book about the case, Harte has retreated from public view. The news of Cox’s death in an Irish psychiatric hospital decades later should bring her peace but instead it reignites the events of Julia’s past in the most horrific way, forcing her to return to Cork to assist in investigating a shocking new series of abductions.”

Jordan’s previous two books were published by Irish indie Poolbeg. A former tutor at Munster Technological University, she worked in the Irish civil service for several years before pursuing fiction writing.

The Cork-based author said: “I’m so thrilled and excited to work with Kate Mills and the HQ team. Their passion for The Dark Hours is incredible. I’m so grateful to my agent Sara O’ Keeffe who has championed Julia’s story from the beginning. This really is a dream come true.”  

Mills said: “The Dark Hours is a ferociously well-written serial-killer novel and yet it’s as much about the damage inflicted on those who witness dreadful events as it is about murder. In a masterclass of plotting and tension, Jordan deftly unpeels the crimes of the past and the present simultaneously and she doesn’t miss a beat. It’s bittersweet to see Julia Harte—now older, damaged and reclusive—against the brave, idealistic young Garda she once was. We’ve been waiting for a brilliant Irish crime writer for the HQ list and the whole team is thrilled that we’ll be publishing Amy Jordan next year.”  

O’Keeffe said: “By the time I raced through an early draft of this novel, I knew I had something special on my hands. Amy is that rare talent: a thoughtful and evocative writer, capable of producing acute insight along with tremendous pace and power. I’m thrilled to place this great novel with such a talented publishing team and an editor I have long admired.”