Sophie Hannah on writing a new Hercule Poirot novel

Sophie Hannah & Mathew Pritchard

I posted a few weeks ago that British psychological thriller writer Sophie Hannah is going to write an authorized new Hercule Poirot novel.

Here's a link to a great interview at CrimeFictionLover with Sophie Hannah about this endeavor.

William Morrow to publish authorized new Agatha Christie novel written by Sophie Hannah!

This just in from William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers:

William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers today announced plans to publish the first-ever new Agatha Christie novel, fully authorized by the Christie estate, to be penned by international bestseller Sophie Hannah.  The deal for World English rights was negotiated by Daniel Mallory, VP, Executive Editor at William Morrow, and David Brawn, Estates Publisher at HarperCollins UK with Hilary Strong, Managing Director at Christie rights manager Acorn Productions Ltd/Agatha Christie Ltd, the UK based rights holding production arm of RLJ Entertainment, Inc (NASDAQ: RLJE) and Hannah’s agent Peter Straus at Rogers, Coleridge & White.  The novel will be published in September 2014 by HarperCollins worldwide.

The new novel will feature Hercule Poirot in a diabolically clever murder mystery sure to baffle and delight Christie's fans, and those who have never read her work. Agatha Christie introduced the Belgian detective to the world in her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920. It has been 38 years since Agatha Christie’s last novel, Sleeping Murder, was published in 1976, and 39 years since the final Poirot, Curtain.

“It was pure serendipity that led to Sophie Hannah being commissioned to write this book,” notes Mathew Prichard, Chairman of Agatha Christie Ltd and grandson of Agatha Christie. “Her agent happened to approach HarperCollins in exactly the same week that my colleagues and I started discussing a new Christie book. Her idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.”

Hannah, a leading writer of psychological crime fiction who is published in 24 countries, says, “It is almost impossible to put into words how honored I am to have been entrusted with this amazing project—in fact, I still can't quite believe that this is really happening! I hope to create a puzzle that will confound and frustrate the incomparable Hercule Poirot for at least a good few chapters.”

"In the years since William Morrow began publishing the world's bestselling novelist, we have seen astounding results across a range of formats and promotions,” notes Mallory.  “Sophie Hannah's spellbinding novel marks a new stage in our relationship with Agatha Christie, and along with our colleagues at Harper UK, Acorn, Agatha Christie Ltd, and of course Mathew Prichard and the family, we are looking forward eagerly to bringing whole new generations of readers to this legendary author.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sophie Hannah is the internationally bestselling author of eight psychological thrillers, which have been published in more than 20 countries and adapted for television.  Last year, her novel Kind of Cruel was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year.  Sophie is also a poet, and has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.  Sophie lives in Cambridge, and is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.  Her website is www.sophiehannah.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @sophiehannahcb1. 
 

Sophie Hannah at A Great Good Place for Books

I know there are a lot of booksignings coming up, but I thought I'd alert you to one tomorrow (October 21) at a wonderful independent bookstore with a great mystery section: A Great Good Place For Books in Montclair Village (Oakland, CA).

Sophie Hannah, author of The Wrong Mother and Little Face, will read from her new book at 7 p.m. October 21. This past Sunday, I saw Sophie in Indianapolis at Bouchercon, and I can assure you she's a good speaker and a great reader...not to mention a talented writer and poet.

Sophie Hannah is a crime fiction writer and poet. Her psychological thrillers Little Face, Hurting Distance and The Point of Rescue have sold in the UK, and are also published or about to be published in America (not all available in the U.S.), Portugal, Spain, Norway, Turkey, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Croatia, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Bulgaria and Romania, with several more foreign rights deals under negotiation.

Sophie’s fifth collection of poetry, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the 2007 TS Eliot Award, and in 2004 she won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her suspense story The Octopus Nest, which is now published in her first collection of short stories The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.

From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is thirty-six and lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and two children.

A Great Good Place for Books
6120 LaSalle Avenue
Oakland, California 94611

Video Interviews with Crime Writers

Oz Mystery Readers (a Yahoo group) had a posting about Web Exclusive Video Interviews with various authors including two crime writers: Linwood Barclay and Sophie Hannah. They're short and very good. Almost like being there. You'll want to watch them. To hear the interviews, go HERE.