Seven-Figure Killing for Slaughter

Karin Slaughter, whose first two novels, Blindsighted and Kisscut, have been promoted as being a cross between the work of Thomas Harris and Patricia Cornwell, has done well enough with them to rate a new two-book, seven-figure deal with publisher Morrow. That house's senior editor, Meaghan Dowling, signed the young author to a new North American rights deal, signed just before the new year, with agent Victoria Sanders. The author is based in Atlanta, and her graphic thrillers, set in a fictional Georgia town, star a woman who doubles as pediatrician and coroner, and her ex-husband, who is the town's police chief. The untitled new books are the next installments in what is planned as a five-book series. Chandler Crawford is handling foreign rights; Angela Cheng at Writers and Artists is doing movie.