A Beginner's Guide to Co-writing: Step One—Sign a Deal! 🖊️
Thrilled to announce The Number One Insta Detectives Agency!
“Penguin Random House Australia is thrilled to announce they have acquired The Number One Insta Detectives Agency and The Love Bomber, the first two books in a new series that blends crime with romance, by Australian authors Rachael Johns (that’s me) and
This exciting news was announced in Books & Publishing today and I couldn’t be more delighted to finally be able to tell you all about it.
The Pitch that Sold the Series:
Are you suspicious that the guy you're chatting to online is seeing other women? Wondering why that popular girl from high school’s profile picture changed from her wedding photo to a vague motivational quote? Or maybe there's a very-hunky-and-way-too-friendly man in all of your new girlfriend’s photos?
It’s time to reach out to The Number One Insta Detectives Agency.
This quirky, talented team of four —Olivia, a charming mortician with a dark sense of humour; Sheridan, an animator with tech skills to rival Zuckerberg’s; Juniper, a librarian and true crime junkie; and Emery, a savvy social media guru who reluctantly works in the family funeral parlour— have earned an impeccable reputation for cracking online mysteries.
Whether it's uncovering cheating boyfriends, exposing catfishers, or investigating the gorgeous woman liking every photo of your crush, Olivia, Emery, Sherry, and Juni are your go-to team. But when they stumble upon something truly sinister, they face an impossible decision: do they risk their business and personal safety to uncover the truth, or turn a blind eye to the dark secrets they've uncovered?
Meet my co-writer:
Mercedes Mercier writes 'just-one-more-page' crime with twisting plots and relatable characters. I absolutely adored her books WHITE NOISE AND BLACK LIES, both which kept me captivated and on the edge of my seat.
As well as writing books, Mercedes works in the criminal justice system, providing her unique insight into the world of prisons, crime and offenders.
After a brush with death, Mercedes decided to throw herself into life. She lived overseas, became a black belt in Karate, skydived, and volunteered with animals. When she doesn't have her nose in her laptop and her mind in a story, she loves to read, travel, try new restaurants, and listen to podcasts (true crime of course).
Mercedes lives in Adelaide - which is sad because it means we only get to hang out in person occasionally - in a tree-top home surrounded by nature and animals, with her partner, twin babies and beloved dog.
How it came about:
Here’s us chatting with our wonderful publisher, Ali Watts, from Penguin Random House Australia after we’d both signed our contract. You can SEE how excited we all are about this series. Oh and our t-shirts are from fabulous Aussie small biz Confetti Rebels.
What’s next?
This month Mercedes and I are busy working on solo projects - I’m finishing my next book THE LUCKY SISTERS and Mercedes is editing hers, but come April we’ll be throwing ourselves back into THE NUMBER ONE INSTA DETECTIVES AGENCY and we can’t wait. You’ll be able to follow our progress here in our series A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CO-WRITING and you’ll also be the first to hear about any exciting developments from the cover (SQUEE), to film/tv news (hey, two gals can dream) and of course book events when the time comes.
We hope you’re (almost) as excited by our news as we are and can’t wait to share the first book with you and introduce you to our cast of charismatic Instagram detectives in July 2026!
Love lots,
Rach and Mercedes.
Sooo thrilled we can finally announce this! So excited!!!
This sounds so cool, congrats to you both!