Martha Grimes, Creator of Richard Jury Mysteries, Is Moving to Scribner

Ed McManus Martha Grimes, creator of the Richard Jury mysteries, is switching publishers.

Martha Grimes, the author of the best-selling Richard Jury mystery books, is joining Scribner, the publisher announced on Tuesday.

Ms. Grimes was with Viking, a Penguin imprint, since 1999. Her contract with Scribner, a Simon & Schuster division, is for three books.

The first will be a memoir written with her son that recounts their parallel battles with alcoholism, to be published in June. The second, to be published only six months later, will be a follow-up to “Foul Matter,” her 2004 spoof of the publishing industry in crime novel form - editors use blood instead of red ink. The third in the contract will be her first Jury book in four years. It will be called “Vertigo 42”; it is expected to be published in 2014.

In addition, Scribner obtained digital rights to 19 of the author's previous novels, including 15 Jury books, which will be made available electronically for the first time.