After John Cunningham departed St. Martin's mystery/thriller imprint to go to DC comics, SMP head Sally Richardson ran the show for a while until a replacement could be procured. And now, as PW Daily reported yesterday, that day has come. Andrew Martin, most recently v-p and publishing director of Sterling Publishing Co., will become Minotaur's v-p and publisher, a newly created position, starting July 5.

It will be interesting to see how Martin "shapes and grows the list," as Richardson said in the press release to announce his impending arrival, as the imprint is only slowly moving into bestseller waters (Dana Stabenow's BLINDFOLD GAME and John Hart's THE KING OF LIES, both 2006 releases, were the first Minotaur books to make the NYT's Extended bestseller lists in its eight-year history.) Wearing my other hat, it'll be an interesting development to watch, to say the least.