Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin, who writes crime fiction under the pen name Sam Blake, has secured a three-book deal with Bonnier Publishing's new digital-first imprint twenty7.
The Dublin crime trilogy will begin with The Dressmaker (due in spring 2016), featuring a twentysomething Dublin garda and kickboxing champion called Cathy Connolly.
Fox O'Loughlin is a literary scout who founded The Inkwell Group and the Writing.ie website. She provides writing workshops and publishing consultancy services, and is the chair of Irish PEN and a director of Kazoopublishing.com.
She also created the National Emerging Writer Programme for Dublin City of Literature, and works with WritersWebTV.com to create free live online workshops about writing.
Her other books include the guide Writing to Get Published: Bringing the Dream Alive (2011), and the romance novel True Colours (2011, published as Vanessa Fox).
Originally from St Albans in Hertfordshire in England, she lives at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains. Her husband is a retired member of An Garda Siochana.
Her publisher Joel Richardson said about this week's deal: "We’re so excited to be working with such a leading figure in the Irish literary community. The book is so evocative of both Dublin and London, and I’m sure the series will find many fans on both sides of the Irish Sea."
Author's Facebook page: facebook.com/WriterSamBlake
The author on Twitter: @writersamblake
Her blog: bloodredink.com
