Zaffre strikes two-book deal with A K Turner

Katherine Armstrong, editorial director for crime and thriller at Zaffre, has acquired world English language rights for a two-book deal with A K Turner. Rights were acquired from Jane Gregory at David Higham Associates.

The first novel, Body Language, will be published in November 2020. Rights for Body Language have already been sold to Germany and Russia.

The book revolves around Cassie Raven, a "deeply intuitive" mortuary assistant who is convinced she can hear the last thoughts of the dead. When she comes face to face with someone she knew and cared about on the slab, she senses there must be more to the ruling than accidental death and Cassie sets out to investigate the death and deliver justice for the woman who saved her life.

The character of Cassie Raven was first introduced by Turner in "Cut and Paste", a crime short for BBC Radio 4 in 2019. 

Turner said: "As a long-time admirer of Zaffre and editorial director Katherine Armstrong, I couldn't be happier that such a brilliant team is bringing the Cassie Raven series to UK readers. It takes a distinctive publisher to see the potential in a super-bright maverick Goth girl mortuary technician as a series lead, and I hope that readers will love Cassie, too."

Armstrong added: "I am very excited to be publishing A K Turner at Bonnier Books UK. I’ve long been a fan of her writing, and with Cassie Raven she’s created an utterly compelling character. Cassie is intuitive, super smart and street-wise and very much like a contemporary Sherlock Holmes. Readers will completely fall in love with this unorthodox sleuth, who knows the dead and knows we can learn a lot from them – if only we listen!"