Editorial Director Vicky Blunden has acquired World All Language rights, including film and TV, in three books in a new series by Kate Wiley. The series follows former SFPD homicide detective Margot Phalen as she attempts to leave her past – and the legacy of her serial killer father – behind and make a new start, working with the FBI to unravel cold case murders.
In the first book, publishing in January 2026, Margot is tasked with using her special skill at interviewing serial killers to get into the mind of a killer who targeted a local beauty pageant. With her relationship hanging by a thread and her father’s voice an increasingly unwelcome presence in her mind, Margot must face the unsettling truth that you can’t outrun your past. And that sometimes it takes a killer to catch one.
Kate Wiley is an established crime writer who has published in multiple genres; she writes cozy mysteries as Gretchen Rue, and the popular Secret McQueen supernatural thriller / urban fantasy series as Sierra Dean.
Wiley says,
“I am so delighted to be continuing both my and Margot’s journeys with Storm Publishing. The passion that the whole Storm team brings to sharing stories has been such an inspiration to me, and I am so excited to keep telling my stories with them. Vicky Blunden, my editor, Oliver Rhodes, and the whole Storm team have truly created something special, and I know my books are in the best possible hands.”
Blunden says,
“Margot Phalen is one of the most compelling characters I’ve encountered in crime fiction; readers have been loving seeing her relationship with Wes evolve over the first series and gripped by the escalation of the cat-and-mouse dynamic between her and her father too. I can’t wait to see her grapple with complex new cases in her next role with the FBI. It’s a joy to be working with Kate Wiley for a new series; she delivers a totally gripping, intense and moving page-turner every time, and her books just keep getting better and better.”
For more information about Kate Wiley, you can find her on X, Facebook and Instagram.
Storm Managing Director
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