W F Howes and Canelo sign eight-book deal for Louth’s crime series 

W F Howes has partnered with independent publisher Canelo on an eight-book acquisition of Nick Louth’s DI Jan Talantire Crime series across print, e-book and audiobook formats.

The worldwide audio rights were acquired directly from the author by Craig Thomson, senior acquisitions editor at W F Howes. Michael Bhaskar, publishing director at Canelo, acquired the worldwide print and e-book rights also directly from the author.

The new series will follow DI Jan Talantire and be set in the North Devon countryside. Titles and release dates have yet to be confirmed. Previous works by the author include his DCI Craig Gillard series and standalone suspense thrillers such as Heartbreaker (Canelo) and Bite (Sphere).

Louth commented: “I am thrilled to be working with Canelo and W F Howes on an exciting new detective series. An eight-book deal is an enormous vote of confidence in my continued creativity, and I have nothing but confidence in the publishing teams that have brought such success to the DCI Gillard series.”

Thomson described Louth as “a British publishing powerhouse and tremendous success story”, adding: “His DCI Craig Gillard Crime series is now 10-titles strong, and fans are going to love this new series just as much. We’ve been working with Nick since 2018, publishing audiobooks for 13 of his titles, and we can’t wait to partner with him on this latest chapter in his publishing journey.”

Bhaskar said: “Nick Louth is a persistent and fearless original author. You never know what to expect from a Louth novel, save for a brilliant and unexpected take on well-worn genres. He is one-of-a-kind, capable of springing a real surprise with every book. We are delighted to be continuing our long association with Nick and look forward to making this new series a roaring success.”