Mortalis: mysteries & thrillers for your trade paperback needs

Publishers Lunch was first to report, with PW Daily following suit right after, that Random House trade paperbacks will be launching a new imprint specifically geared towards the mystery fan. Mortalis, which will debut in Spring 2007, will concentrate primarily on reissues (of authors such as Martin Cruz Smith, P.D. James, Agatha Christie and Wilkie Collins) but won’t neglect originals completely, as Boris Akunin’s SISTER PELAGIA AND THE WHITE BULLDOG, David Corbett’s BLOOD OF PARADISE and Alex Carr’s AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN will be launched next spring, too.

Jane von Mehren, trade paperbacks v-p and publisher, told PW that the program will aim to bring authors who’ve appeared largely in mass market into trade paperback. The idea, she said, is to find authors “we think would benefit” in the different format. PM reports that editors Mark Tavani and Judy Sternlight will help Random House Trade Paperbacks oversee the program, and each book will include a commentary section at the back dubbed a “dossier.” I asked Tavani by email for additional clarification: “The idea for the venture was Jane von Mehren’s, but in looking for the right staff to help oversee it she went to Judy Sternlight and me — me, because I edit a good amount of suspense of all kinds and because I’m excited to acquire more of the kind of books that fit the bill for Mortalis.”

Looking closely at the announced titles, Mortalis seems to be focusing on genre fare that’s certainly commercial but with the potential to reach a larger audience. So it will be interesting to see what additional original titles will be bought and what will be reissued, especially as Tavani adds, “I expect — especially in the wake of the program’s announcement — that we’ll see a whole lot of projects that could fit the program.”

I’d bet that 2006 titles edited by Tavani like Richard Hawke’s SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, Steve Berry’s THE TEMPLAR LEGACY and Alex Berenson’s THE FAITHFUL SPY will be published in trade paperback next year by Mortalis, but one can’t help but wonder if the line will acquire some more international fare, since every other US publisher seems to have its pet Scandinavian author. Suggestions from the floor: Sweden’s Jo Nesbo and Iceland’s Yrsa Sigurdardottir, published in the UK by Harvill Secker and Hodder, respectively.

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