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Wheatley rides again with Chorion

21.04.08 Benedicte Page

Chorion has acquired the estate of bestselling occult and thriller writer Dennis Wheatley. Wheatley's best-known titles include The Devil Rides Out and To the Devil a Daughter, both later made into Hammer horror films, but he produced nearly 70 novels and books of autobiography in total with sales of 30 million copies worldwide, said Chorion. The estate was acquired from Wheatley's grandson, Dominic Wheatley.

Literary estates business manager Tamsen Harward outlined Chorion's plans for the brand, describing Wheatley as "a hugely successful author who is primed to be rediscovered by the next generation". She said Chorion was considering republishing Wheatley's out-of-print works, looking at TV and film opportunities, and developing a horror adventure series for the young adult market.

"The books are read by boys in their late teens. We see an opportunity to develop a young adult adventure series--we know parents and grandparents know the books." Chorion also plans to increase sales of Wheatley's black magic novels overseas, Harward said.

Another intention is for Chorion to rework the four Crime Dossier titles which Wheatley produced in collaboration with J G Links in the 1930s. "The titles, which include Murder in Miami, sold millions," said Harward. "They have dossiers of clues such as telegrams, transcripts of interviews with suspects, and so on‹like CSI. We're looking at reworking them for a modern audience."

Benedicte Page Chorion Dennis Wheatley

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