Canongate is launching Black Thorn, a crime fiction imprint, in May 2019. The Bookseller reported that Black Thorn will publish a wide range of titles from Severn House, which Canongate acquired in 2017, in paperback for the first time. Two of the list's titles will be released each month, simultaneously around the world, marking "the first time that many of these Severn House titles have been available to the trade."
Black Thorn will be managed by publishing coordinator Holly Domney, who has moved from her role within Severn House. The 2019 list will launch with Catherine O'Connell's The Last Night Out and The Savage Shore by David Hewson. Domney said the variety of titles within Black Thorn's catalogue will "feed the hungriest of crime fiction readers who need to devour one mystery, then reach for the next one."