Author of a series of bestselling thrillers starring psychologist Alex Delaware, Jonathan Kellerman has become the latest big-name author to give all his publishing rights to Ballantine, in the person of publisher Gina Centrello. She bought the next five Delaware novels, in a huge deal that ran into eight figures, from agent Barney Karpfinger. For that she got paperback, audio and e-book rights. Kellerman's editor will be executive editor Peter Borland, who has been Kellerman's paperback editor during the two years he has published with Ballantine; previously, he was paperbacked by Bantam after hardcovers by Random House (his next there will be Flesh and Blood, due next month). Recently, Richard North Patterson, previously at Knopf, also turned to Ballantine as his sole publisher.