Viking wins auction for crime series

Viking is publishing three novels by a debut crime writer, Cara Hunter, following a "hotly contested" auction.

UK and Commonwealth rights to Close to Home and two other crime novels featuring DI Adam Fawley were acquired from Anna Power at Johnson & Alcock. 

Close To Home is set in Oxford and follows the investigation into the disappearance of an eight-year-old girl from a family party.

Viking commissioning editor, Katy Loftus, commissioned three books on the "strength" of Closer to Home and called Hunter "the crime writer to watch in 2018". 

She said: "Cara Hunter is going to take the crime world by storm. Her first novel takes familiar crime tropes – the missing child; the suspicious parents; the Oxford setting – and completely turns them on their heads. The reading experience is reminiscent of the best crime TV shows like Broadchurch and The Bridge; you’re involved in each of the characters’ lives and suspicious of everyone, and the ending leaves you breathless and hungry for your next fix. I have never seen a reaction to a book like it. Every single person in the Viking team read it in a fever of excitement, and we will be publishing Cara Hunter as the crime writer to watch in 2018."

Power added: "It's a rare writer who can so instinctively create such a gripping crime novel. Cara has weaved a spell over all who have read Close To Home, often in one sitting, and international interest has been markedly positive."

Viking will be launching Cara Hunter in 2018, with Close to Home and the second novel, In the Dark, publishing in January and July respectively, with the third to follow in 2019.