Robin Cass & Robert Munroe Option Ava Lee Novels

Robin Cass (The Kindness of Strangers, High Life) of Cass & Co and Robert Munroe (The Tudors, The Borgias, Altered Carbon) of Blacktop Recess have optioned 17 Ava Lee novels and four Uncle Chow Tung prequel novels from Ian Hamilton.

Hamilton’s Ava Lee books center on a Chinese-Canadian forensic accountant who is a fearless sleuth and a master of the ancient martial art form Bak Mei, historically taught only to males. She uses her skills to outrun and outsmart the most dangerous criminals in the world.

The Uncle Chow prequel books center on Ava’s mentor years before he met her.

Hamilton’s books have been printed in eight languages in more than 20 countries and have won or been nominated for various awards, including the Arthur Ellis, the Lambda and the Barry.

“From my first read of the first novel in the series, Ava firmly implanted herself in my imagination and my heart,” Cass said. “Bond is one thing. Ava Lee is quite another! She’s tough, fearless and fantastic! What I love about Ava is that she is her own secret weapon and that no one sees her coming. A spectacular mix of international intrigue, money-sleuthing, amazing martial arts action and spectacular global settings all add up to a heady series cache. She’s everywoman’s superhero.”

Munroe added, “This is the most exciting series of dramatic fiction I have read in decades. I started reading The Water Rat of Wanchai and was basically incommunicado until I finished The Fury of Beijing and then all the Uncle Chow Tung prequels. It’s an engaging, terrific, wild ride that deserves a wide audience! It will be an epic adventure—complex, intriguing storylines that are set in exotic locations. Writers, designers, cinematographers, VFX artists and directors are going to have a field day with this material.”