Raven Books pre-empts commercial and literary super leads by Whyte and Strachan

Raven Books has snared books by Nicola Whyte and Richard Strachan in two “major” pre-empts. The titles will be the publisher’s commercial and literary super leads for 2025.

Therese Keating, senior commissioning editor, pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in 10 Marchfield Square and one further novel by Whyte in a “significant six-figure deal” with Jason Bartholomew at The Bks Agency, for publication in spring as Raven Books’ commercial super lead debut.

The synopsis for the book, which represents the imprint’s move into new areas of the genre, says: “10 Marchfield Square follows shy cleaner Audrey and failing crime writer Lewis as they investigate the murder of one of their neighbours in London’s smallest residential square and discover that, while everyone in this close-knit community may know each other’s business, they don’t necessarily know their secrets.”

Alison Hennessy, publishing director, commented: “We have such ambitious growth plans for Raven Books, and I’m delighted to see Therese taking our publishing into new areas of the market with this major acquisition for the list. Nicola Whyte is an incredible writer and I am so excited to be publishing her as a commercial debut in 2025.”

Read the full article on TheBookseller.com