Moves in the field

A couple of bigtime publisher changes that will affect the mystery world:

First, as I blogged over at Galleycat last week, John Cunningham, once the Publisher of St.Martin’s Minotaur, has moved over to a VP position at DC Comics. I met John during Book Expo and found him to be an extremely knowledgeable, engaging individual (and not just because he knew who I was.) I’ve no doubt his departure is a huge loss for SMP and for all the crime writers he championed.

And in what is arguably just as big news, David Highfill has left Putnam to become an executive editor with William Morrow. While Highfill edited all across the trade division lines, some of his notable mystery and thriller authors include David Ellis, Barry Eisler, D.W. Buffa and Scott Frost. It should be very interesting to see which authors — if any — go with him, and how he’ll fit in with Morrow’s list.