We’re very excited to announce that we’re launching a brand new paperback crime imprint, Black Thorn, which will publish its first titles in May 2019.
The 2019 list will be launched with Catherine O’Connell’s The Last Night Out, and The Savage Shore by David Hewson, whose novels have sold more than 200,000 copies worldwide. Rights in The Last Night Out, a psycological thriller, have already been sold in France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Portugal and Spain.
The launch of Black Thorn follows our acquisition of the crime publisher Severn House last year.
The Black Thorn titles to be published in 2019 include Caro Ramsay’s The Suffering of Strangers, Simon Brett’s The Liar in the Library, Patricia MacDonald’s The Girl in the Woods, Glenn Cooper’s Sign of the Cross, Paul Doherty’s Dark Queen Rising, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ Old Bones, Alys Clare’s A Rustle of Silk, Chris Simms’ Loose Tongues, Hilary Bonner’s Deadly Dance, Humphrey Hawksley’s Man on Ice, Sally Spencer’s The Shivering Turn, Mike Ripley’s Mr Campion’s Farewell, Michael Jecks’ Rebellions Message and Cora Harrison’s A Shameful Murder.
Jamie Byng said, “When we were assessing Severn House as a possible acquisition, one of the many exciting opportunities that we felt it offered was the launch of a commercial fiction paperback list, drawing from Severn House’s outstanding roster of books and authors. So I am thrilled that we are now able to share our plans for Black Thorn which we believe is going to be a great success and which adds a distinctive new strand to Canongate’s publishing output.”
The new imprint will be managed by Holly Domney as Publishing Coordinator, who has moved from her role within Severn House.
Holly said, “The authors on the Black Thorn list are crime writing veterans and their experience shows in the quality of their stories. Catherine O’Connell’s The Last Night Out was so gripping I nearly missed my train stop. Simon Brett’s The Liar in the Library made me laugh out loud. The variety of titles within Black Thorn’s catalogue will feed the hungriest of crime fiction readers who need to devour one mystery, then reach for the next one.”
For more information visit the website at blackthornbooks.com and follow Black Thorn on Twitter: @blackthornbks