Avon goes on crime-buying spree with new books by five authors
Avon has acquired new novels by Luca Veste, Antonia Grave, Tess Mackey, Lucy Roth and Scott Carson, in a “major expansion” of its crime publishing.
The imprint has acquired four novels to launch a new Liverpool-set crime series by Luca Veste with the first two titles, Liar Liar and Tell Tale, due for publication in summer 2026 and early, 2027 respectively.
Helen Huthwaite, publisher at Avon, acquired world English-language rights from Kate Burke at Blake Friedmann, and the four-book deal marks a return to Avon for Veste, 11 years after the launch of his first series featuring DI Murphy and DS Rossi.
Antonia Grave’s debut, Six Strikes, a gritty serial killer thriller, was acquired by commissioning editor Anna Nightingale from Hannah Todd at Janklow & Nesbit. Nightingale said: “I was blown away by the quality of Antonia’s writing, and how she has constructed a tense and shocking thriller alongside a detailed and utterly unique portrayal of her anti-hero. I promise, you will never have felt so sorry for a serial killer.”
Nightingale has also acquired four locked-room thrillers from debut, Tess Mackey, with the series launching in May 2026 with The Perfect Wedding.
Francesca Riccardi at Kate Nash said: “Tess writes some of the most propulsive, claustrophobic and page-turning thrillers in the locked room and closed cast genre. I’m delighted to see these wonderful novels find their perfect commercial home with Avon.”
Editor Billy Lindon, in their first acquisition for Avon, bought a “salacious” thriller from Lucy Roth. Billed as Saltburn meets Succession, in The Party to End All Parties the disgustingly rich and dysfunctional Morland siblings discover one of their party guests has been murdered and together hide the body in their wine cellar.
Avon published Roth’s debut thriller When Sally Killed Harry in 2025. The Party to End All Parties will be published in April 2026, with world rights bought from Jo Bell at Bell Lomax Moreton and a third book to follow in 2027.
Anna Nightingale has also acquired Scott Carson’s Departure 37 which the New York Times described as “part Cold War thriller, part Twilight Zone episode and part Stephen King-like yarn about regular people in extraordinary circumstances”. UK rights were bought from Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann for a January 2027 publication.
