Peterson, Inc.



The most influential person in publishing for 2005 may just turn out to be a certain ex-fertilizer salesman from Modesto, Calif. Days after being sentenced to death last December, Scott Peterson found himself riding the top of the New York Times bestseller list courtesy of Amber Frey's Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson (Regan Books). Now comes Matt Dalton's Presumed Guilty: What You Didn't Hear About Laci Petersonand Why Scott Peterson Shouldn't Be on Death Row, an insider account by an attorney who worked as an investigator for celebrity defense lawyer Mark Geragos. Dalton's book may actually deliver the impossible—a fresh perspective for the most picked-over murder trial since O.J. Dalton offers several theories on what really happened Christmas Eve, 2002, and presents provocative evidence that never made it to trial—information he claims could have lead to Peterson's acquittal. Public fascination with the case shows no sign of abating: three other Peterson books (August's Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson by Keith Ablow [St. Martin's] and the March quickies, Blood Brothers by Anne Bird (ReganBooks) and A Deadly Game by Catherine Crierand Cole Thompson (yup... ReganBooks) all hit the list this year. Atria's Peter Borland will crash Presumed Guilty (written with thriller writer Bonnie Hearn Hill) for a December 13 pub date. Laura Dailof the Laura Dail Literary Agency reps Dalton and Hearn Hill.

Weiner Sticks Around

With three bestsellers all published by the same house; the film based on her book In Her Shoes opening October 7; and her latest novel, Goodnight, Nobody(Sept.), getting raves, Jennifer Weinermust be saying to herself, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Her agent, JPLM's Joanna Pulcini, has just signed up the former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist for three more, again with Atria's Greer Hendricks. Weiner's loyalty is certainly understandable. Back when she was unknown, unconnected and nursing a broken heart from the guy who inspired Good in Bed, Weiner sent the manuscript to 25 agents, and got 24 rejections. To date, her novels have sold a total of five million copies in 33 countries.

The Briefing

A trio of nonfiction titles not likely to be found on the same night table: Appetite: The Guns N' Roses Sagaby Stephen Davis, an unauthorized bio of the '90s icons-turned-A&R sinkhole to Hyperion's Peternelle van Arsdale; acquired from Vigliano Associates'David Viglianoand Celeste Fine.... America's Promise: Keeping Faith with Our Values in an Anti-American Worldby Anne-Marie Slaughter,dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, a look at how America's perceived failure to live up to its seven core values has fostered a global climate of anti-Americanism; Basic Books'Laura Heimert pre-empted from Lippincott Massie McQuilkin's Will Lippincott.... And one for the Fox News crowd: Lone Star: The Long Goodbye of Dan Rather, an unauthorized bio written by Alan Weisman,a former CBS News employee; Wiley's Tom Miller paid six figures in what Martin Literary Management's Sharlene Martin calls "a very quiet auction."... St. Martin's paid "big six figures" to two works from Hollywood big wigs. Tracy Fisherat William Morris repped the brothers Wayans—Keenan, Shaun and Marlon—on a new humor books series, The 101 Ways to Know You're....Controversial screenwriter Joe Eszterhaswill share some of his insights in The Devil's Guide to Hollywood. Ed Victor did the deal.