BROKEN HOMES, the fourth novel in Ben Aaronovitch‘s hugely popular PC Peter Grant series of supernatural London-based crime novels, has set an Orion Books Group record! As reported on Book Trade, the novel, published by Gollancz (Orion’s SFF imprint), has ‘sold 8,064 eBooks in the week of publication against 5,194 hardbacks (Nielsen BookScan), taking it to number three on The Sunday Times bestseller charts. The sales trend has continued in its second week with 2,500 physical copies sold (Nielsen BookScan) compared to 3,500 eBooks. The book this week is at number 6 on The Sunday Times bestseller lists.’

The success is just the latest bit of great news for the series. As we reported recently on the website, the series has also been optioned for TV by the company behind an upcoming adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for the small screen (Feel Films). All four titles from the Peter Grant series – RIVERS OF LONDON, MOON OVER SOHO, WHISPERS UNDER GROUND, and BROKEN HOMES – have now sold over 400,000 copies across all formats and turned Ben, a former London bookseller and Doctor Who scriptwriter (REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS), into one of Gollancz’s most popular authors.

‘All four novels have appeared in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller lists, but the digital sales for BROKEN HOMES are incredible,’ said Lisa Milton, Managing Director of Orion General. ‘With higher digital sales than physical in the first two weeks of publication are we starting to see a new trend develop? That said, however anyone reads Ben’s books we don’t mind; we just want everyone to try him. With London appearing as a major character and all the best elements of police procedurals combined with a healthy serving of the supernatural, Ben Aaronovitch delivers perfect escapist fiction with each novel.’