Deals, deals, deals

Trawling through the PM archives and came across some mystery-related ones:

First up: now granted, I think Stabenow’s done big one-off thrillers before, but probably not with the fanfare this one’s going to get:

Dana Stabenow’s BLINDFOLD GAME, a high seas thriller that pits the Executive Officer of a Coast Guard Cutter against two ruthless Korean citizens who seek to draw the U.S. into a war against their own country by implicating North Korea in a devastating attack, and one untitled mystery in her Edgar-winning Kate Shugak series, to Kelley Ragland at St. Martin’s, in a significant deal, by Rich Henshaw at the Richard Henshaw Group (world).

Should be interesting–North Korea as a villain is still, to my mind, fairly unexplored territory.

Also one author who was a serious candidate for my feature on “The Disappeared” will have to be dropped, as he’s re-emerged with a two-book deal with a fairly high-concept premise:

Edgar winner Steven Womack’s BY BLOOD WRITTEN, a suspense-thriller featuring a bestselling author who bases the plots of his novels on murders he commits himself, to Edwin Buchalter at Severn House, in a nice deal, for two books (the next is a sequel), by Nancy Yost at Lowenstein-Yost (world English).

But I have to ask…Severn House? Isn’t that basically a library-only publishing company which doesn’t do softcovers? Kinda makes me wonder a little bit….