Wednesday 9 November 2011

Press Release from Mulholland Books re: Q R Markham's Assassin of Secrets



Hodder & Stoughton To Withdraw Q.R. Markham’s ASSASSIN OF SECRETS

As has been reported in the US press overnight, the Mulholland Books imprints of Little Brown in the US and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK were alerted on Tuesday that the novel ASSASSIN OF SECRETS by Q.R. Markham, due to be published in the UK on Thursday 10th November, contained numerous plagiarised passages. After an investigation, the decision was taken by both companies to withdraw the book from sale.

A spokesperson for Hodder & Stoughton said “We take copyright issues very seriously, as we do all aspects of the publishing process. We deeply regret having acquired a book for our list that we can no longer accept as an original work, and in partnership with Little, Brown we have acted immediately to recall the book from distributors and retailers.’

Hodder & Stoughton asks that wholesalers and retailers return the book for full credit. Any consumers who seek a refund should return to the retailer where they purchased the book.

For queries contact Clare Harington, Group Communications Director, on 07778810764 or clare.harington@hachette.co.uk




The incident has been picked up by the media and blogs pretty rapidly. Spy thriller writer Jeremy Duns blog The Debrief has a very good and interesting post on the situation, so has Edward Champion’s blog Reluctant Habits.

An Article from the Wall Street Journal Online can be found here. Digital Journal also have more news about the withdrawal of the book and so have Fox News and Huffington Post.


One does wonder how on earth this managed to get past so many people and be published?

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