Rights to the first two books by Blake Friedmann's newest client, Patrick Easter, have been sold to Jane Wood of Quercus in a deal brokered by Oli Munson.

THE WATERMEN is set around the docklands of London in 1798 and features Tom Pascoe, a River Surveyor with the newly formed Marine Police. He has orders to trace the reasons for a sudden fall in government revenue that is affecting the nation's ability to prosecute the war against Napoleon. Working alongside a Jewish immigrant with his own agenda, Tom throws the rule-book out of the window in pursuit of his suspect, an Irishman who controls much of the workforce in the Port of London. And when the two men find themselves involved with the same woman, things get personal.  In a twilight world that borders the Thames, truth becomes the first casualty in an investigation where life is cheap and violence is the common currency.  Quercus will publish in Spring 2011.

Wood described it as 'a compelling historical thriller about the birth of London's Marine Police'. She added: 'Patrick Easter's storytelling packs a tremendous punch; his characters are full of life, and he brilliantly evokes the dirty, crime-ridden London of the period - the Great Wen.  Wonderful stuff.'