Deals, they be everywhere

First off, Darley Anderson does it again. There are some agents who can't seem to settle for anything less than a six-figure deal (or at least, the ones that get reported, the rest likely don't) and continuing his streak of placing Irish crime writers with publishers for big money (after John Connolly, Paul Carson and Alex Barclay, to name a few) is theatre, film and voiceover actress Tana French's INTO THE WOODS, sold to Hodder Headline Ireland and UK. The book, due in Spring 2007, introduces detective duo Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox as they investigate a child murder.

Next up is something I reported at Galleycat late last week, a debut thriller by 26-year-old Crown editor Jason Pinter selling to Linda McFall at Mira (making her first sale for the publishing house after leaving St. Martin's Minotaur publicity last fall.)

And Publishers Marketplace reports on a few additional deals that sound cool, at least to me:

• Hunter College high school English teacher Peter Melman's LANDSMAN, about a Jewish man who joins the Confederate army, to Amy Scheibe at Counterpoint, for six figures, for publicaiton in June 2007, by Lucy Childs at Aaron Priest Literary Agency in a six-figure deal.

• Creators of Rent Girl, Michelle Tea and Laurenn McCubbin's CARRIER, a graphic novel about a superhero girl with wings who fights crime and gets a second chance at having a family, to Kate Nitze at MacAdam/Cage, in a nice deal, by Elizabeth Wales at Wales Literary Agency (world).

• Lynn Harris's DEATH BY CHICK LIT, following a freelance writer as she navigates the cut-throat world of commercial women's publishing, to Kate Seaver at Berkley, by Paula Balzer at Sarah Lazin Books.

• Speak of the Devil author Richard Hawke's two more thrillers featuring Fritz Malone, to Mark Tavani at Random House, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management (world). 

• Ellen Feldman's THE EDUCATION OF ALICE, set against the backdrop of the Scottsboro Trial (the alleged gang rape of two white women by nine black teenagers) and centering on the stories of Alice, a reporter sent to cover the trial, and the white girls, whose lives are made and ruined by the trial, to Star Lawrence at Norton, by Emma Sweeney at Emma Sweeney Agency. (world ex UK).