Pearse moves from Transworld to Sphere with two new books

Sarah Pearse, the breakout debut author of 2021’s The Santorium, is moving from Transworld to Sphere with a new two-book deal.

Lucy Malagoni, executive publisher for Sphere Fiction, and Tilda Key, publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Charlotte Seymour at Johnson & Alcock.

The first, as-yet-untitled book will be the third in the Detective Elin Warner series. The Sanatorium and its follow-up The Retreat combined to sell 145,000 units through Nielsen BookScan, with the former being a named Waterstones Thriller of the Month and selected for Reese’s Book Club. The second book in the deal will be Pearse’s first standalone.

The first untitled thriller is set in a beautiful, remote national park in Portugal, where an artist has disappeared in sinister circumstances. Warner is reluctant to be involved but "as questions mount, she is forced to probe into the dark secrets surrounding the park, and discovers that a camp nearby know more about the disappearance than they are willing to admit".

Global publication is scheduled for summer 2024, simultaneous with Pamela Dorman Books’ launch of the US and Canadian editions.

Malagoni said: “Sarah’s outstanding, addictive thrillers chilled me to the bone, and I could hardly turn the pages fast enough. I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to publish her at Sphere and further evolve Sarah’s brand in the years to come.”

Key describes Pearse as “without doubt one of the most exciting new voices in the world of crime fiction”.

Charlotte Seymour said: “We were blown away by the team’s vision for publishing Sarah at Sphere and are very much looking forward to this exciting next stage in Sarah’s career.”