Angry Robot Books has launched Datura Books, a crime fiction imprint focused on titles "with a strong sense of voice and place that push the boundaries of the genre, while playing with readers' favorite tropes," the company said. Editors have "a range of tastes, from literary crossover to fast-paced, urgent and commercial."
Angry Robot has a long history of publishing SFF and "we know that SFF readers also tend to read crime," the company continued. "We're looking for a strong voice from crime writers who have been published before as well as debut writers."
The imprint's first title, to be released February 14, 2023, is Death of a Dancing Queen, the adult debut by YA mystery author Kimberly G. Giarratano. Datura Books will publish six titles over the next year, including Mother Howl by Craig Clevenger, Spider by Azma Dar and The Death of Sir Martin Malprelate by Adam Roberts. Datura Books is being distributed internationally by Penguin Random House.
Publisher Eleanor Teasdale said, "As avid readers in this genre, our team all believe that we can offer something special by using our experience with Angry Robot to choose the titles we would be so excited to pick up in a bookshop."