Picador snares Rogues by Baillie Gifford-winner Keefe

Picador has snared Rogues, a collection of New Yorker articles from 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize-winner Patrick Radden Keefe.

Ravi Mirchandani, editor in chief, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown on behalf of Tina Bennett at Bennett Literary in association with ICM. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks will publish in hardcover, e-book and audio on 7th July 2022. 

Keefe’s previous book, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family (Picador), won the Baillie Gifford Prize and was shortlisted for the FT McKinsey Business Book of the Year. It was published in paperback by Picador on 3rd March.  

Rogues brings together a dozen of his most celebrated articles from the New Yorker. Keefe observes in his preface: “They reflect on some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.”

The synopsis states: “Keefe explores the intricacies of forging $150,000 vintage wines; examines whether a whistleblower who dared to expose money laundering at a Swiss bank is a hero or a fabulist; spends time in Vietnam with Anthony Bourdain; chronicles the quest to bring down a cheerful international black market arms merchant; and profiles a passionate death penalty attorney who represents the ‘worst of the worst’, among other bravura works of literary journalism. The appearance of his byline in the New Yorker is always an event; collected here for the first time readers can see how his work forms an always enthralling yet also deeply human portrait of criminals and rascals, as well as those who stand up to them.”

Mirchandani said: “Patrick is a rare combination, both an exceptional investigative journalist and a marvellous storyteller. But he also has such a first-rate eye for a great story, as is so splendidly on show in this marvellous collection. We are delighted to be continuing as his publisher in the UK and Commonwealth.”