Ed Wood

After twelve years publishing some of the biggest and best commercial fiction authors, I’m thrilled to take on clients in crime, thriller, mystery and book club fiction – and to be their creative and commercial champion.

For me, a great submission will pair a really punchy concept with an irresistible voice. I’m exclusively interested in adult commercial fiction that is full of twists, turns, gasps and chills. And perhaps the odd tear (happy or sad) too.

As Publishing Director at Little, Brown, I published crime, thriller and book club bestsellers including Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Carl Hiaasen, Keith Stuart, Jessica Fellowes, Patricia Highsmith, and international megabrands Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. I published numerous Sunday Times and digital bestsellers, including at number one. Among various awards, my titles won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, various CWA Daggers, and the McIlvanney Prize. And in my second role as Little, Brown IP Director, I worked with authors on original concepts that became huge rights sales hits and international bestsellers. I like to work in creative partnership with authors to fulfil their vision – and then help them reach the biggest readership possible.

I’m a sucker for psychological thrillers where nothing is what it seems and there’s a unique idea behind the story – think Gillian McAllistar’s Wrong Place Wrong Time, Frieda McFadden’s The Housemaid or that out-and-out classic, Gone Girl.  

Then there are the groundbreaking thrillers where the mystery is a game played with the reader and genres are blurred: think Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street, Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, or Alex Pavesi’s Eight Detectives – delicious, dark and clever.

But I don’t always want to be terrified. I’m also thoroughly in the market for a whodunnit with heart, of which the recent pinnacle has to be the work of Janice Hallett, such as The Appeal, or Jennie Godfrey’s The List of Suspicious Things.

Stunningly written crime novels with awards potential and fresh viewpoints are also a must-read for me – recent examples would include books as diverse as Mick Herron’s Slough House series, Femi Kayode’s Lightseekers, Colin Walsh’s Kala, or Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark. The pinnacle of the genre.

And because I like all things dark, I can definitely be lured towards the modern gothic. Shirley Jackson is one of my favourite authors, so everything from Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Loney to Sinéad Gleeson’s Hagstone and the books of Eve Chase would grab me.

Finally, sometimes a bit of human warmth is required, so I would like to see very select, beautifully written and imaginatively conceived high-concept book club fiction – think Kaline Bradley’s The Ministry of Time.

You can send me submissions at [email protected]