EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has acquired film rights to Samantha Downing’s international bestseller My Lovely Wife, and is partnered on the film with Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films.

The novel is described as a darkly comedic psychological thriller that explores the modern impulses of human nature. The principal characters are Tobias and his lovely wife, Millicent, who seem to be leading the perfect life with home and family. But they harbor a dark secret: husband has been helping his wife with her penchant for serial murdering. But when one of their victims is discovered, hubby realizes his lovely wife may not be as trustworthy as he had thought.

I’d heard last year that an Amazon deal was in the works, but it took awhile because there was going to be a major element in the mix. That turned out to be Blossom, which has become a leading generator of female-driven fare and in 2018 made a first look deal at Amazon for film, TV and digital. Run by Kidman and Per Saari, Blossom’s projects have included the Emmy-winning Big Little Lies, the David E. Kelley limited series The Undoing for HBO with Kidman starring, and the company is turning the Janet Y.K. Lee novel The Expatriates into a limited series as the first project under the Amazon deal. Neither Amazon nor Bloom would comment on My Lovely Wife or whether Kidman hopes to play the complex murderess at its center. Kidman is coming off the Jay Roach-directed Bombshell.

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My Lovely Wife, about to go into paperback, has enjoyed a charmed run for author Downing. After it was acquired in a big auction, My Lovely Wife became an international bestseller published in 23 countries, and is a Best First Novel nominee for the 2020 Edgar Award, considered the top prize for crime fiction. Downing’s second novel, He Started It, will be published by Penguin Random House imprint Berkley on April 28, 2020. Downing is represented by APA, Grandview, and The Irene Goodman Literary Agency.