Soho Press to Publish Junior Bender Mysteries by Timothy Hallinan

Soho Press announced today that it has signed a deal with crime novelist Timothy Hallinan to publish the first two books in his comic crime series featuring Junior Bender in hardcover — they were originally self-published as ebooks — as well as publish a third title in the series.

"One of the things I most miss with ebooks is being part of a team, a group of specialists who can all make a unique contribution to the book,
said Hallinan. "I also missed the sheer elegance of the printed book, designed inside and out by talented professionals. And finally, I've loved working with Soho on the Rafferty books, and it made a big difference that they were the publishers for Junior."

Meanwhile, Soho is looking forward to blazing new territory with the Junior Bender books. Says Soho Senior Editor Juliet Grames, "The Junior Bender books are a departure from what we usually publish — international crime fiction, which is how we first came to work with Tim [on his Poke Rafferty thriller series set in Bangkok]. But once I read the manuscript for The Fame Thief I knew we couldn't let this one go, despite our mandate. It was just too great, and the voice was so fresh."

Crashed, the first in the series (more information below), will be published on November 13th. Little Elvises will come out on January 29th, 2013 with the third book in the series, The Fame Thief, publishing on June 4th, 2013. The TV/film adaptation rights have been sold to Lionsgate.

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Crashed
Timothy Hallinan
A Junior Bender Mystery (1st in series)

Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he's never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey's porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that's unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America's beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.

Junior knows what he should do — get Thistle out and find her help — but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA's scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.