https://paulamunier.com/
Paula is closed to new unsolicited queries indefinitely. She will continue to request work through conferences and boot camps, and to accept referrals, but any new unsolicited queries received during this period will not receive a reply.
For nearly twenty years, this framed quotation has graced my office:
“Après les choses qui sont de première nécessité pour la vie,
rien n’est plus précieux que les livres.”
It’s from Pierre Simon Fournier’s 1764 typography manual, and it means: “After all the basic necessities of life, there is nothing more precious than books.”
That’s how I’ve felt about books since my mother started reading to me as a baby. As soon as I could read my favorite stories on my own, my literary fate was sealed. I’ve lived in the world of words ever since—as a reader, a writer, an editor, and now as an agent.
The only thing I love more than books are the writers who write them. I’ve had the privilege of working with talented wordsmiths of every stripe—from reporters, nonfiction authors, content creators, and memoirists to novelists, screenwriters, graphic novelists, cartoonists, comic book writers, short story writers, and poets.
Writers are my tribe. I began as a journalist, and over the years I’ve penned countless new stories, articles, essays, collateral, and blogs, as well as authored/co-authored more than a dozen books, most recently Fixing Freddie, 5-Minute Mindfulness, and A Miscellany of Murder. Along the way, I’ve added editor, acquisitions specialist, digital content manager, and publishing executive to my repertoire—the common denominator being my commitment to writers and writing, no matter what my title. From Gannett, Greenspun, and Prima Games to Disney, Quayside, and F+W Media, I’ve fought the good fight for good writing and good writers. And I’ve loved every minute of it.
But now, as an agent, I have the opportunity to support talented writers in the most direct manner possible, helping my clients do good work, land great publishing deals, and build successful writing careers. So if you’re a writer as obsessed with words and stories as I am, and you’re in it for the long haul, consider working with me. My specialties include mystery/thriller, SF/fantasy, romance, YA, memoir, humor, pop culture, health & wellness, cooking, self-help, pop psych, New Age, inspirational, technology, science, and writing.
P.S. If you write crime fiction…you should know that I’m very involved with the mystery community, having served four terms as President of the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America as well as on the MWA board. (I’m currently VP of that organization.) I’ve also served as both co-chair and Agents and Editors chair on the New England Crime Bake committee for seven years and counting. And I’m an active member of Sisters in Crime.
Paula’s Appearances:
DEC 10 – 13, 2020
New York Pitch Conference
Paula’s Latest Deals
HALF DEAD, by Brandon Graham
Fiction: Thriller
Brandon Graham’s HALF DEAD, in which a Chicago physician wakes up from the car accident that killed his wife believing he, too, is dead, a symptom of Cotard’s syndrome that will embolden his search for the truth and lead him right into the middle of murders terrorizing the Windy City, to Benjamin LeRoy at Crooked Lane, in a nice deal, for publication in 2021, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
TARGET MINOR, by Emilya Naymark
Fiction: Thriller
Emilya Naymark’s TARGET MINOR, in which an NYPD undercover cop escapes upstate under a new identity with her autistic teenage son, but when the Russian mob tracks her down and her son goes missing, she has to find him before they do, pitched as Harlan Coben meets Mark Haddon, to Terri Bischoff at Crooked Lane, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
THE GIRLS WHO STEPPED OUT OF LINE, by Mari Eder
Non-fiction: General/Other
Retired Major General Mari Eder’s THE GIRLS WHO STEPPED OUT OF LINE, celebrating the unsung and unheralded Greatest Generation heroines of World War II—the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters doubling as spies, smugglers, pilots, codebreakers, Resistance fighters, and more who endowed a legacy destined to embolden generations of women to come, to Meg Gibbons at Sourcebooks, in a nice deal, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
HER THREE LIVES by Cate Holahan
Fiction: Thriller
Cate Holahan’s HER THREE LIVES, in which a young wife is terrorized in her own home by her own home, pitched as “Gaslight goes high-tech”, to Beth de Guzman at Grand Central, in a nice deal, at auction, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
August 2, 2019, – STATION 559, by James Benn
Fiction: Mystery/Crime
James Benn’s STATION 559, the 16th book in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series, in which a captain pairs with a member of the Soviet Air Force to investigate a double murder at Ukrainian airfield, to Mark Doten at Soho Press by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services (world English).
April 5, 2018 THE WIDOWER’S WIFE
International rights: Fiction
Estonian rights to Cate Holahan’s THE WIDOWER’S WIFE, to Nelli Pisarkova at Ersen, by Terrie Wolf at AKA Literary on behalf of Paula Munier at Talcott Notch..
November 10, 2017 – HUSK, by Dave Zeltserman
International rights: UK Fiction Shamus- and Derringer-winning Dave Zeltserman’s HUSK, when a Husker falls for a girl, he must escape the New Hampshire wilderness and his cannabalistic Husk clan to find a new life with her in New York City, if they don’t find him first—and if he can control his predatory instincts, to Kate Lyall-Grant at Severn House, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services (world English).
November 10, 2017 – BELOW THE TREE LINE, by Susan Oleksiw
Fiction: Mystery/Crime Susan Oleksiw’s BELOW THE TREE LINE, when a dead woman is found in her western Massachusetts woods, a farmer and sometime faith healer must join forces with her handsome neighbor to solve the crime and save their farms, only to find themselves caught up in a web of deceit, murder, and rare orchids, pitched as in the tradition of Louise Penny and Julia Spencer-Fleming, to Terri Bischoff at Midnight Ink, in a three-book deal, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.
October 19, 2017 – WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE, by James Benn
Fiction: Mystery/Crime
James Benn’s WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE, the fourteenth book in the BILLY BOYLE WW II mystery series in which Captain Billy Boyle tracks down a traitor in the French Resistance, to Mark Doten at Soho Press, by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services.