Clan Destine Press acquires Stephen Ross YA novel

Clan Destine Press has acquired world rights to YA novel The Bride Must Be Stopped! and its two sequels by Aotearoa New Zealand author Stephen Ross.

Set in the 1950s in the US, The Bride Must Be Stopped! is the first novel in Ross’s Mean City Mystery series.

‘Thornton Thacker – a Philip Marlowe-esque teenage detective – his sister, and their two best friends follow a trail of Egyptian hieroglyphics and a missing mummy,’ said the publisher. ‘[They] find themselves up against ancient supernatural forces, with Thacker’s girlfriend’s life at stake.’

Ross, born in Auckland, is a short story writer whose work has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and several Mystery Writers of America anthologies. He contributed to the first Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian mystery anthology – Dark Deeds Down Under (Clan Destine Press) and Lee Child’s How to Write a Mystery handbook. Ross’s work has been nominated for an Edgar Award, a Derringer Award, and a Thriller Award, and Ross was an Ellery Queen Readers’ Award finalist.

Discussing the acquisition, Ross said: ‘A decade ago, I had a crazy idea: what if the Famous Five novels had been written by Raymond Chandler? The idea that never went away morphed with my love of noir, mystery and the supernatural, and soon the Mean City Mysteries were born.’

Clan Destine Press publisher Lindy Cameron said: ‘There’s nothing better than a mystery-adventure that includes hieroglyphs, mummies and curses. The Bride Must Be Stopped! is fabulous YA noir, where a brand-new hero and his friends walk the mean streets of a slightly off-kilter city.’

Clan Destine Press plans to release The Bride Must Be Stopped! in August 2025.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions