Cape secures Pynchon mystery

[Dave Monroe]

Cape secures Pynchon mystery
13.02.09 Victoria Gallagher


Jonathan Cape has acquired a new book from celebrated American
novelist Thomas Pynchon. Inherent Vice is the author's first mystery
novel and publisher Dan Franklin said he expected it would bring
Pynchon "legions of new readers".

Franklin bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Deborah Rogers at
Rogers, Coleridge & White in a "significant" deal. It has been
scheduled for release on 6th August.

Set in 1960s Los Angeles, the novel is described as "part noir, part
psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon". Private eye Doc Sportello meets
up with an ex-girlfriend who is plotting to kidnap a billionaire,
which draws Sportello into a "bizarre tangle" with a cast of
characters said to include surfers, hustlers, rockers and a murderous
loan-shark, as well as "an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and fondness
for [actress/singer] Ethel Merman."

Franklin called the book as "a joy. It's brilliant on LA—specifically
LA just after the Manson murders—and Pynchon's take on the old
triumvirate of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll is, as always, like no
other writer's," he said.

Jonathan Cape has published all of Pynchon's novels, most recently
Against the Day (2006), which was over 1,000 pages long and sold
nearly 10,500 copies according to Nielsen BookScan.

Inherent Vice will be a more conventional length at just over 400
pages. The title will be published on 4th August in the US through
Penguin.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/77424-cape-secures-pynchon-mystery.html