Stephen J. Cannell Signs Book Contract With St. Martin's Press

Posted on February 15, 2000

St. Martin's Press has announced that it has concluded negotiations with bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell for a two-book contract. SMP senior editor Charles Spicer and agent Eric Simonoff of the Janklow/Nesbit Agency brokered the six-figure deal.

St. Martin's president and publisher Sally Richardson said, ``I have wanted to publish Stephen Cannell for years. He has a proven track record as a bestselling author and I am thrilled to be launching his new fiction series featuring the ongoing character of Shane Scully.'' The first of the two novels, The Tin Collectors, is set for a Winter 2001 publication.

Stephen J. Cannell said, ``I am excited about the new direction my next two novels are taking and I am delighted to be continuing my career as a novelist with St. Martin's as my publisher.''

An action-packed, modern-day cross between Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, The Tin Collectors centers on L.A. police detective Shane Scully, who comes under investigation by Internal Affairs (derisively known as ``the tin collectors'') after he kills his ex-partner who was one of the mayor's bodyguards. Temporarily reassigned, so that he can remain under the department's watchful eye, Scully finds that more than his badge is at stake when he is set up to take the rap in a deadly plot of corruption and conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the LAPD.

Cannell has been credited with playing an instrumental role in shaping television programming as we know it today. One of the most prolific writers in the history of the medium, he has created or co-created over 40 shows including Baretta, The Rockford Files, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, Hunter, The Commish, Renegade, and Silk Stalkings, and scripted over 350 of the more than 1,500 episodes he has produced or executive produced.

In 1995, Cannell made the successful transition into the literary world with the publication of his debut novel, The Plan, a political thriller that became a national bestseller. He followed that book's success with three more critically acclaimed national bestsellers, Final Victim (1996), King Con (1997), and Riding the Snake (1998). Cannell's fifth novel, The Devil's Workshop, was published by William Morrow in 1999.