HarperFiction snaps up two more Sidmouth Murder Mystery novels from Jeremy Vine
HarperFiction has swooped for two more Sidmouth Murder Mystery novels from journalist and BBC presenter Jeremy Vine. Martha Ashby bought world all language rights from Kerr MacRae at Kerr MacRae LPA.
The new books will continue to follow Edward, Kim and Stevie, the heroic investigating team from his Sunday Times bestselling crime debut Murder on Line One. The first book in this new deal will publish in hardback in April 2027 and presents a locked-room mystery, the death of a prominent local businessman and a missing dagger steeped in Sidmouth lore. It will follow the publication of the second in the series, Turn the Dial for Death in hardback, due for release in April 2026.
Vine is best known as a journalist and broadcaster, and hosts a daily breakfast show on Channel 5 and a peak slot on BBC Radio 2 every lunchtime, presenting news, views, interviews and guests. Vine’s love of crime fiction stems from childhood, as his early obsession was with Agatha Christie, after his mum gave him Hercule Poirot’s Christmas when he was 11. By 18 he had read all 66 of Christie’s detective novels, but he waited 40 years to write his first murder story.
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Vine said: "For me, Harper and Martha are the OG. I’m delighted to be writing these two new novels for them; touring book festivals and reading groups with the message of how very bad things can happen in very lovely places. I couldn’t wait to see what Edward, Kim and Stevie did next – they have taken on lives of their own, and once I’ve created the crime I’m as interested as anyone in how they solve it."
Ashby said: "With his brilliant, hilarious Sidmouth Murder Mysteries, Jeremy has brought something completely fresh and irreverent to the commercial crime market. Readers say again and again how much they love the charming characters and unique voice and this is exactly what makes these wonderful books stand out. I hope Jeremy continues to think up ever-more outlandish ways for people to be murdered."
