Publisher Simon & Schuster wants to recoup $1.275 million it claims to have paid out to famed mystery writer Nelson DeMille for a planned novel he never got to finish.
DeMille signed an $11.5 million, three book deal with Simon & Schuster in December 2014, and delivered the first two before his death in September 2024 at age 81, according to court papers.
Simon & Schuster paid a $640,000 advance for the third book as well as $635,000 for an outline of the project, for a total of $1.275 million, it claimed in legal filings.
The third novel was tentatively titled “Explorer’s Club,” the company said.
“Regrettably, Mr. DeMille passed away before he could deliver the manuscript for the third novel,” Simon & Schuster said in its litigation.
A month after DeMille died, Simon & Schuster sent a letter to his son and occasional co-author Alex DeMille seeking reimbursement. No payment was made and by July, Simon & Schuster filed a claim against the author’s estate in Nassau County Surrogate Court.
But in a plot twist, DeMille’s children contend the publishing house and the author amended the agreement more than once over the years — and that the company never paid those particular advances to their dad.
The payments in question “were never made to DeMille and remained unearned as of his passing,” they wrote in an Oct. 6 Nassau Surrogate Court filing.
“Put another way, there is nothing to ‘claw-back.’”
But on Oct. 7, Simon & Schuster filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Alex DeMille and his sister, Lauren DeMille, who are co-executors of their father’s estate seeking repayment.
The New York Times bestselling author and father of three from Long Island, who also has a younger son, James, began his literary career in the 1970s, with the 1978 novel “By the Rivers of Babylon.”
He went on to write or co-write nearly 30 books including 1997’s “Plum Island” which introduced the character of John Corey, a retired NYPD detective.
Lawyers for Simon & Schuster and the DeMille children didn’t return messages seeking comment.
