Clock Watchers

Deb Futter at Grand Central acquired U.S. rights to LucyKellaway's In Office Hours. In the novel Kellaway, a columnist for the Financial Times, follows two professional women who concurrently fall for the wrong guys—both of whom are office mates. Grand Central compared the novel to Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It, saying Kellaway “does for office life what Pearson did for domestic life.” Clare Alexander of Aitken Alexander brokered the deal, and the book is slated for February 2011.

Perennial Lands Henderson

Dan Conaway at Writers House sold world rights to Susan Henderson's debut, The Ruby Cup, to Carrie Kania and Brittany Hamblin at Harper Perennial. Henderson runs the lit blog Litpark.com and has twice won the Pushcart Prize for her short fiction; in Cup an eight-year-old girl, growing up in the late 1950s, struggles with her mother's mysterious disappearance. Conaway said the novel, which will be published as a paperback original, is set against the backdrop of the tumultuous era, incorporating the upheaval caused by everything from desegregation to the beginnings of the feminist movement; the book is being touted in-house as The Secret Life of Bees meets the writing of Jennifer McMahon (Dismantled).

Hyperion Re-Ups with the Dog

Hyperion has acquired a second book from Duane “Dog” Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter. Chapman's follow-up to his bestselling You Can Run but You Can't Hide, published by Hyperion in August 2007, is called Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given. (Chapman's A&E reality show, Dog the Bounty Hunter, remains the cable station's top-rated show.) The new book, sold by Alan Nevins at Renaissance, features anecdotes and life lessons from Chapman as well as information about his and his family's struggles with their newfound fame. (Chapman's first book, a straightup memoir, told about his hardscrabble rise from criminal to successful bounty hunter and, ultimately, reality TV star.) Ellen Archer at Voice took world English rights, and Brendan Duffy will edit; Hyperion plans to publish in March 2010. Nevins also handles Chapman's dramatic rights.

Seasonal Baking

Mollie Glick at Foundry has just closed a deal for betterbaking.com creator, Marcy Goldman. Glick sold world rights to Goldman's The Baker's Four Seasons to Julia Cheiffetz at HarperStudio. Goldman's site is one of the largest independent baking sites on the Web, and in the book she applies a seasonal cooking approach to baking and delivers a guide to, as Glick put it, “baking what you crave in each season.” Harper plans to publish in spring 2011.

On Infidelity

British author Deborah McKinlay arranged her own deal with Soho Press for her debut novel, The View from Here. In the book a wife who's ill learns of her husband's infidelity and, in doing so, reflects on her own trespasses in the marriage, specifically the affair she had years ago. Katie Herman nabbed North American rights.

Correction

In last week's column, the rights Avery/Gotham bought to Kidder Kaper's sex manual written in graphic novel form, Sex Is Fun, were incorrectly cited. The Penguin imprint bought North American English rights.

If you have a deal to announce, please contact Rachel Deahl at rachel.deahl@reedbusiness.com.