You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Pan Macmillan scoops Steph McGovern's debut crime novel Deadline
Pan Macmillan has acquired the rights to debut crime novel Deadline from award-winning broadcaster and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year judge Steph McGovern. Publisher Francesca Pathak acquired world all language rights in two novels from Millie Hoskins on behalf of Matt Nicholls at United Agents.
The novel was announced at an event with Richard Osman and McGovern at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Saturday (20th July 2024).
Deadline centres around Rose, a young broadcaster who is preparing to interview one of the most powerful men in the country. But as the live TV interview begins, she hears an unfamiliar voice in her earpiece telling her that her family have been kidnapped and she must do exactly as the hijacker says in order to keep them safe.
Pan Fiction will publish in hardback in July 2025.
Ann Cleeves has said: "For years Steph has been supporting other crime writers at the festival. Now she’s at Harrogate in her own right. She’s written a pacy, witty, engaging thriller, entertaining and delightfully authentic—but hard-hitting and thought-provoking too. I can’t wait for you all to read it."
Pathak said: "As soon as I read Deadline, I knew this was the novel Steph was born to write. We are thrown into a high stakes suspense thriller with an authenticity on the world of broadcasting and politics that only she knows. I cannot wait for readers to discover Steph’s writing and the world of Deadline."
McGovern said: "Deadline is a book idea I’ve had since my early days on breakfast TV. Writing it has given me the chance to spend the last few years secretly living in a parallel universe where the high-pressured, high profile environments I’ve worked in, and the colourful characters I’ve met along the way, have all fed into my own invented dark story of power, corruption and lies. I’m buzzing to be launching the book in Harrogate at the Theakston Crime Festival. I’ve been coming here to stalk my favourite authors for 10 years. Now to be here as an author myself is mind blowing."
Steph McGovern currently presents the podcast "The Rest is Money" with Robert Peston. Steph has worked in journalism for more than 20 years, including eight years as business presenter on "BBC Breakfast".
