“The Day of the Jackal” producer Carnival Films have snapped up the rights to develop Sarah Pinborough’s upcoming novel “They Say a Girl Died Here” for television.
The murder mystery, which is set to be published at the end of this month, follows university drop-out Anna Maybourne as she accompanies her mother, sister and grandmother to the farming town of Harper’s Creek – a place where two girls were killed exactly three years apart. While her grandmother descends deeper into dementia, Anna becomes increasingly obsessed with the murders.
“The case was closed, but as the next three-year anniversary looms and the town suffers a drought, people pray, people worry, and people wait,” reads the synopsis. “Anna believes the killer is watching, and that Grandma somehow knows more than she should. They say both are, in their own ways, mad. Because when Grandma speaks, only Anna understands that instead of being over, the mystery seems like it’s starting again.”
Bestselling author and screenwriter Pinborough wrote Netflix hit “Behind Her Eyes” and adapted her own novel “Insomnia” for Paramount+. She has written almost 30 novels, which have been published in over 30 territories globally. “They Say a Girl Died Here” is set to be released in the U.S. on Aug. 25 via Flatiron Books with Orion publishing the novel in the U.K. on Aug. 27.
