ALL THE KING’S MEN sold to France in a pre-empt deal! 

We are thrilled to let you know that the World French rights for the first book, ALL THE KING’S MEN, of the internationally bestselling Saana Havas series by Elina Backman have been acquired in a pre-empt deal by HarperCollins France! The deal was closed by Mimi Matinpalo at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

What an incredible read ALL THE KING’S MEN was! Saana et Jan are such endearing and unforgettable characters in crime fiction. Their burgeoning love story is perfect to brighten up the otherwise very dark story. The Finnish nature and culture are beautifully present and make this crime novel unique. Sadly, I can’t read ALL THE KING’S MEN in Finnish, but our reader loved it just as much as I did the English sample. The breathtaking region, the believable infinitely endearing characters…

How incredible that this was a debut! This means Elina Backman is an author to watch, one we are overjoyed and honored to see join our list.”
-Marine Alata, Editorial Director, HarperCollins France

HarperCollins Publishers is the second largest book publisher in the world with operations in 17 countries. HarperCollins France was founded in 2016 and is made up of several imprints, among which HarperCollins for fiction and non-fiction, HarperCollins poche for mass-market paperbacks across all genres and HarperCollins Noir for crime and thrillers. HarperCollins France publish works of many famous authors such as Don Winslow, Karin Slaughter, Emelie Schepp, David Lagercrantz, Sara Strömberg and Michael Mann.

With France, the series has now sold to 17 territories, most recently published by Piper in Germany,  and an international TV-series is in development by Aurora Studios! The rights for the series are still available in USA, UK, Spain, Iceland, Thailand, Israel, Japan, Taiwan…

Elina Backman is Finland’s no. 4 bestselling fiction author with over 70 000 copies sold, and her works have been nominated twice for the Best Translated Crime Novel by the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy, and for the Best Crime Novel of the Year 2022 by the Finnish Crime Writers’ Society.

Book 1: All the King’s Men
Saana Havas Series #1

Saana has been fired from her job as a click-bait journalist, so she decides to spend a summer with her aunt in a small town named Hartola. It sounds like a perfect opportunity to take it easy and recover. But when Saana begins to dig into the case of a teenage girl who died 30 years earlier, peace in the small town is shaken.

Meanwhile, in Helsinki, a fire-marked body is found at Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, and crime investigator Jan Leino and his team have a new case on their hands. However, the investigation isn’t going anywhere, and Jan fears that the murder at King’s Gate is just the beginning…

Saana and Jan continue working on their own cases until their paths cross – for more than one reason.

Original title: Kun kuningas kuolee
Otava (orig.), 2020, 495 pp.
Reading materials: English sample + synopsis, German and Italian editions

Rights sold:
FINLAND: Otava (orig.)
ALBANIA: Dritan
CZECH REPUBLIC: Grada
DENMARK: Gyldendal
ESTONIA: Varrak
FRANCE/ World French: HarperCollins France
GERMANY: Piper Verlag
HUNGARY: Maxim
ITALY: Newton Compton
LITHUANIA: BALTO
NETHERLANDS: De Bezige Bij/Cargo
NORWAY: Cappelen Damm
POLAND: Czarna Owca
ROMANIA: Lebada Neagra
RUSSIA: Mann, Ivanov, Ferber
SLOVAKIA: Arkus
SWEDEN: Bokfabriken
FILM & TV RIGHTS: Aurora Studios