Orphan Black and Queer As Folk‘s Temple Street Productions has acquired TV rights to prolific Canadian author Kelley Armstrong’s trio of Rockton mystery novels. They will be adapted by showrunner Julie Puckrin (Killjoys, X Company, Motive) and exec produced by David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg of Temple Street parent Boat Rocker Media. Toronto-based Temple Street’s SVP Kerry Appleyard and Puckrin also exec produce.

Armstrong is the bestselling author of over 30 novels, which primarily fall into the fantasy category. The Rockton series are crime thrillers that include City Of The Lost, A Darkness Absolute and This Fallen Prey which have all been published in the past two years.

Rockton is a Utopian commune and a survivalist outpost. It’s also an extreme adventure and a penal colony that takes in those seeking refuge from their lives. Who you are and what brought you to Rockton defines how you see it. Everyone has a past.

Homicide detective Casey Duncan takes refuge in Rockton to help her best friend escape a brutal ex-husband, but she also has something to hide. Before Casey was a cop, she killed a man. As she soon discovers, the town is in desperate need of a police detective, because the supposedly safe paradise has just had its first-ever murder.

Appleyard says the stories offer a “timely investigative crime drama with a unique setting and formidable female lead that will resonate with audiences worldwide.”

Puckrin adds, “The setting is uniquely Canadian, but the issues are universal — the idea that you can hide from everything except who you really are. As a secret city where desperate people go to disappear, Rockton is the perfect crucible to explore what happens when we are forced to confront the difficult truths about ourselves.”