Deals

Iris Johansen, who has had 16 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, most recently On the Runand Countdown, is moving from Bantamto St. Martin's in a multimillion-dollar, eight-book deal negotiated by Andrea Cirillo of the Jane Rotrosen Agency and St. Martin's publisher Matthew Shear. Jennifer Enderlin will edit, and two of the books in the new deal will be co-written with Johansen's son Roy. No pub date yet for any of the books; Johansen has a new novel, Killer Dreams, just out from Bantam.

Da Capo's Marnie Cochran has acquired world rights in a best-bids auction to Katherine Kastan's From the Heart: A Healing Program for Living Well with Heart Disease, a Woman's Guide from Joelle Delbourgo at Joelle Delbourgo Associates. Based on the author's personal experience with heart disease and bypass surgery, as well as her professional training as a psychotherapist, the book will guide women through the emotional aftermath of a heart event. Kastan is also the president of WomenHeart, a national organization that educates women about heart disease. Da Capo plans to publish in spring 2007.

In another recent deal, Cochran acquired world rights to Wall Street Journal editor Steve McKee's My Father's Heart, in which McKee will describe his efforts to avoid his father's fate (death in his 50s from a heart attack) once he learns he shares his father's genetic disposition for heart problems. Jeff Kleinman at Folio made the deal, and Da Capo will publish in fall 2007.

Harmony's John Glusman has acquired zoologist Bill Schutt's Dark Banquet: The Curious Lives of Blood Feeding Creatures, which explores the world of sanguivores, in a world rights deal with agent Elaine Markson; publication is set for fall 2008. Glusman has also bought Backwaters: An Anthology of "Outdoors" Columns from the back pages of the New York Times, edited by longtime Times writer Stephen Sautner; Sanford Greenburger's Peter McGuigan made the North American rights deal.

Dutton's Julie Doughty has acquired North American rights to Natasha Mostert's Season of the Witch from Gelfman Schneider's Deborah Schneider. This novel of supernatural suspense follows two sisters who practice alchemy and the love triangle that ensues when a computer hacker is drawn into their intrigues. The South African Mostert is also the author of The Midnight Side and Windwalker. Transworld is publishing in the U.K., and rights have been sold in Germany and Italy.

Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich has sold a new novel by David Morrell, Scavenger, again to Roger Cooper at CDS Books, an imprint of the Perseus Books Group. CDS published Morrell's most recent thriller, Creepers, in 2005. In keeping with the CDS publishing model, Morrell will receive no advance in return for higher royalties and control of all rights.... Regal's Lauren Schott Pearsonsold Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Mary McNamara's first novel, Oscar Season, to Kerri Kolenat S&S, who took world English rights. Set at a fictitious L.A. hotel in the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, the novel opens with a body floating in a pool. Publication is set to coincide with the 2008 Oscars..... Bruce Tracy and Adam Korn at Ballantine have acquired football great Jerry Rice's The Fifth Quarter, in which Rice will use stories from his own career to offer strategies and philosophies for facing challenges head-on; agent Jillian Manus sold world rights, and the book will be published in January, just before the Super Bowl.

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