RH Launches Thrillers of Today (and Yesterday) with Mortalis

by Rachel Deahl, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 4/19/2006

In a move to get genre booksellers and fans excited about a new line of mysteries and thrillers, Random House is launching Mortalis, a new program that will reissue classic and out-of-print titles alongside paperback originals. Set to start in Spring 2007, the list will be republishing such classic mystery writers as Martin Cruz Smith, P.D. James, Agatha Christie and Wilkie Collins. Sprinkled in the Spring list will be three original titles as well: Boris Akunin's Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, David Corbett's Blood of Paradise and Alex Carr's An Accidental American.

In looking for reprints, Mortalis will initially focus its attention on older titles from Random House's backlist. Jane von Mehren, trade paperbacks v-p and publisher, said the program will aim to bring authors who've appeared largely in mass market into trade paperback. The idea, she said, is to find authors "we think would benefit" in the different format.

Outreach and publicity efforts are planned to mystery-focused independents as well as general bookstores that do well with the category. RH v-p and executive director of publicity Carol Schneider noted that one advantage of a series like Mortalis is that "you can get more attention for books published under one theme."

For more information on what other publishers are doing with reissues, check out this week's story on the subject from the print edition.