That’s how Transworld – who happens to be Lee Child‘s longtime UK publisher – is promoting the new deal made for a new thriller series by Tom Cain. The Bookseller reports that THE ACCIDENT MAN, due in July 2007, introduces Daniel Carver, “a good guy, who makes bad things happen to bad people.”
Transworld’s Simon Thorogood bought the book and a followup from Cain’s agent Julian Alexander of Lucas Alexander Whitley. US rights went to Josh Kendall at Viking, which has slated US publication of THE ACCIDENT MAN for winter 2008 (and which is slowly expanding its mystery/thriller base thanks to Kendall – earlier he acquired a new series from Gregg Hurwitz.)
Perhaps the most interesting part of the deal is this nugget gleaned from Publishers Weekly’s writeup, which indicates that Cain is actually “a pseudonym for a journalist living in England.” My best guess is that Cain is actually Tom Bradby, political editor for ITV News and the author of two contemporary thrillers and three historical thrillers (most recently, 2004’s THE GOD OF CHAOS, which was only published in the UK.) Why? All his books were published by Transworld, and he’s always been repped by the very agency that did the deal for Tom Cain. So far, neither Bradby nor Julian Alexander have responded to requests for comment, but that may change soon…
UPDATE: Alexander has replied to confirm that “it’s not Tom Bradby.” Let the guessing game begin then!