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Maxim Jakubowski, writer, editor and former proprietor of crime bookshop Murder One, is to launch a new crime fiction imprint, maXcrime, for John Blake Publishing in March.
Nine maXcrime titles will be published in 2010, all mass market paperbacks priced at £7.99, in what is described as a "commercial" but very varied list, covering hard-boiled, historical, cosy, women-oriented crime and crime in translation.
Jakubowski said he had received a "call out of the blue" from John Blake asking him to set up the list. "John Blake has done virtually no fiction over the years, but we had lunch and we clicked," he said. "The list must fit in with John Blake so it will be a commercial, not personal, list—something to appeal to all crime readers without being downmarket. Having been on the frontline as a bookseller, I think I know where the gaps are."
Blake said that, having "become the biggest seller of true crime books," he was looking for a further development. "I bounced it off our big customers and they were very keen," he said.
The lead title for 2010 will be Hit by Tara Moss, Australia's biggest-selling crime writer, which will launch the imprint in March alongside a crime novel by film director Mike Hodges. Moss, who sells in 20 languages and is a six-foot ex-model described in the maXcrime catalogue as "the most glamorous author in crime fiction", was an obvious purchase, says Jakubowski. "She's never been published in the UK, and I've never understood it." Hit is one of a series of five and maXcrime has the option on the other titles.
Also on the 2010 list is an Italian serial killer bestseller, The Girl with the Crystal Eyes by Barbara Baraldi (May), and a debut by a writer described as a Scottish Janet Evanovich, Donna Moore's Old Dogs (April).
Jakubowski said the imprint would have "a big marketing push", aiming at the supermarkets and chain promotions, with PR handled by Colbert Macalister. A catalogue for the imprint will be available in a fortnight.