Orion has pre-empted two new legal thrillers by Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl (Orion), The Unseeing (Tinder Press) and The Story Keeper (Tinder Press). 

Charlotte Mursell and Leodora Darlington acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the two books from Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment in a swift pre-empt.

Orion will launch the first thriller in August 2024 in hardback, e-book and audio, with the two books to be published under the name Anna Sharpe.

The synopsis of the first thriller reads: “After a Moldovan girl is found drowned in the Thames, two determined women – a lawyer and a political adviser – must work together to uncover a scandal that stretches to the heart of the British government.”

Mazzola’s debut novel The Unseeing won an Edgar Award in the US and was nominated for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Debut Crown in the UK. Her second novel, The Story Keeper, was longlisted for the Highland Book Prize.

A spokesperson for Orion Fiction said: “We were absolutely gripped by Anna’s brilliant new thriller. The suspense was heavy on the page from the first word, and nobody writes human complexity the way Anna does. 

“Anna isn’t afraid to broach tough, timely subjects, and she writes characters you can’t help thinking about long after reading the final sentence. We are sure our readers are going to fall in love with this brilliant book as much as we have, and we can’t wait to continue to grow Anna’s audience and brand. She’s an exciting author and certainly one to watch.”

Mazzola said: “I’m delighted to be working with the brilliant team at Orion on this new venture, which comes partly from my anger at a criminal justice system that regularly fails survivors and partly from a wish to write something quite different to my historical novels (which I’ll be continuing with as well). I think this is going to be a lot of fun.”

Mushens also commented: “Anna has used her fast-paced storytelling ability coupled with her real-life knowledge of the law to create a narrative that is a gripping insight into a closed world. I’m delighted that Orion pre-empted it and am excited to see this strand of her publishing brought to fruition.”