Ultimo Press acquires SK Lynch crime novel

Ultimo Press has acquired ANZ rights to SK Lynch’s novel Something He Did, via Alex Christie of Curtis Brown.

Something He Did follows the story of Detective Claudia Russo, who is tasked with finding a missing 18-year-old girl in Melbourne, but locks horns with the girl’s entitled father. “Meanwhile, another young woman loses her way, Claudia grieves her own private loss and an on-the-job romance threatens to explode a career she’s only just clinging on to.”

Ultimo publishing director Robert Watkins said, “If you love twists in your crime novels, I swear you won’t read a better book all year.”

A former journalist, broadcaster, columnist, travel editor and rom-com author, Lynch has written screenplays for television thrillers including Netflix series Friends Like Her. “A road rage incident in Melbourne inspired her to turn back to print, this time on the darker side”, according to the publisher.

“Detective Sergeant Claudia Russo was born out of my own fury at finding myself middle-aged and invisible,” said Lynch. “Being middle-aged was hardly a surprise, but being invisible was. At what I considered the height of my creativity, I was relegated to the sidelines of my own career. Oh, the pain.”

Of the acquisition, Lynch said, “I wrote Something He Did not knowing if Claudia would ever find a home, telling myself it didn’t matter either way, I had to write it no matter what. I had to say something about actions having consequences – be better, people!”

Ultimo plans to release Something He Did on 29 September 2026.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions