SoHo Crime to Publish 'Crashed,' 'The Fame Thief,' and More!

Soho Crime has just signed a 3-book deal with Edgar and Macavity Award nominee Timothy Hallinan for World English publishing rights to a new crime fiction series featuring an L.A. burglar, Junior Bender, who moonlights as an ad hoc private eye for clients on the wrong side of the law. 

In a reversal of one current publishing trend, the first two Junior Bender novels were originally offered directly by Hallinan as ebooks and are now moving to the traditional publishing format. 

Simultaneously with the book deal, Steve Fisher of APA (on behalf of Bob Mecoy at Creative Book Services) sold the tv/film adaptation rights at auction to Lionsgate, which outbid another global production entity. The production team on the project is the team that brought us “Nurse Jackie,” and the Junior Bender series will be modeled after recent successful humorous action franchises like “Burn Notice” and “White Collar.”

Blackstone Audio will release all three titles as audio books simultaneously with the Soho editions.

From Electronic Publishing Back into Print

Soho will drop Crashed, the first book in the series, into its Fall 2012 season as a priority title. The hardcover will be published on November 13, 2012. Two more novels will follow soon thereafter: Little Elvises (to be released in hardcover on January 29, 2013) and The Fame Thief (June 4, 2013).

Old Hollywood and show business stories provide rich material for these comic, action-packed mysteries. Hallinan has drawn from his many years working in the film, television, and music industries to inform the cases Junior investigates. Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at Tinseltown history that includes gang activity and criminal underpinnings.

The publication deal with Soho turns a recent trend on its ear: while so many authors have spoken out about moving toward self-publishing their work, Hallinan has abandoned a successful self-publishing model for a traditional publishing house. 

“We’re excited by this opportunity,” says Soho Publisher Bronwen Hruska. “Tim is a great talent and I’m thrilled to be bringing both of his frontlist series to an even wider audience. I’m proud that, as an independent press, we’re able to move quickly when we see an opportunity to bring added value to authors, readers, and booksellers alike. We’re in a unique position to make this work for everyone.”

What made Hallinan leave behind a viable new business model and go back to traditional publishing?

“One of the things I most miss with ebooks is being part of a team, a group of specialists who can all make a unique contribution to the book,” Hallinan says.  “I also missed the sheer elegance of the printed book, designed inside and out by talented professionals. And finally, I've loved working with Soho on the Rafferty books, and it made a big difference that they were the publishers for Junior. 

Meanwhile, Soho is looking forward to blazing new territory with the Junior Bender books. Says Soho Senior Editor Juliet Grames, “The Junior Bender books are a departure from what we usually publish—international crime fiction, which is how we first came to work with Tim [on his Poke Rafferty thriller series set in Bangkok]. But once I read the manuscript for The Fame Thief I knew we couldn’t let this one go, despite our mandate. It was just too great, and the voice was so fresh. There’s no one out there writing what Tim is writing right now. Tim had been planning on self-pubbing The Fame Thief, the third in the series, but I begged his agent to get him to reconsider. I was convinced these books would find an even larger audience on the traditional publishing model if they got the support and TLC they deserved.”