David Headley is the Managing Director of DHH Literary Agency and co-founder of one of London's most respected independent bookshops, an insider's insider who hunts for emotionally resonant, character-driven literary and commercial fiction with big themes and lasting staying power.
In brief
His client roster skews heavily toward crime, thriller, and psychological suspense — authors like M.W. Craven, A.A. Dhand, Ragnar Jónasson, and Chris Merritt confirm this is where he does his heaviest lifting, regardless of how broadly he frames his taste.
He runs both a literary agency and a major independent London bookshop, which means his commercial instincts are unusually sharp: he understands how books actually sell to real readers, not just how they pitch to editors.
His Icelandic roster (Ragnar Jónasson, Jón Atli Jónasson, Katrín Júlíusdóttir, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir) signals a genuine appetite for international crime and Nordic noir in translation — a niche few UK agents actively cultivate.
He is confirmed open for submissions as of June 2025, queried by email with attachments — no query-management platform required.
His stated exclusions are unusually broad: he rules out sci-fi, fantasy, children's, YA, poetry, plays, screenplays, novellas, story collections, and non-fiction — this is a focused fiction-only list, and he means it.
Lately
His agency page lists a current reading stack that includes a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel, a Joe Hill title, a debut from Florence Knapp, and several other literary and commercial fiction titles — pointing toward a taste for emotionally intelligent fiction that works across the literary-commercial spectrum.
What David is looking for
The backbone of his list. He represents a wide range of crime voices — from gritty British police procedurals to psychological thrillers to international Nordic noir — and has clearly built deep relationships with editors in this space. If your crime novel has a distinctive voice, a compelling detective or protagonist, and a strong sense of place, this is his wheelhouse.
He articulates a taste for novels with emotional weight, expansive themes, and a confident authorial voice — stories that are uplifting but earned, and that linger. His recent reading list (Taylor Jenkins Reid, Joe Hill, Florence Knapp) points toward books that straddle the literary-commercial divide: accessible but not shallow, original but not wilfully obscure. Character must come first.
Several clients write in this space, including authors of historical crime and period-set literary fiction. He appears open to historical novels that anchor themselves in strong character and story rather than pure research spectacle.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill appearing on his current reading list is a meaningful signal — he has some appetite for dark, unsettling fiction that operates within a literary register. This does not mean genre horror, but a novel with menace, psychological dread, or darkness woven into a character-led story could find a home here. He is selective, not closed.
Not the right fit
On David's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query David
Send to submission@dhhliteraryagency.com — this is the confirmed submission address from his own agency page.
Attach your cover letter, a one-page synopsis, and your first three chapters as separate file attachments. Do NOT paste any of these into the body of the email — he is explicit about this.
He will only reply if he wants to take things further, so no response is a no. Do not follow up chasing a reply.
Lead your cover letter with story and character, not concept or theme. His own words emphasise that he is drawn to story first, and to the feeling of a confident storyteller arriving on the page.
If you write crime or thriller, speak directly to that — his list confirms it is his strongest area, and pitching to his evident strengths gives you the best odds.
Avoid pitching anything outside adult literary or commercial fiction. His exclusions (no SFF, no YA, no children's, no non-fiction, no short forms) are categorical, not soft preferences — querying outside them wastes both your time and his.
If your novel has an international or Nordic dimension, that appears to be a genuine area of enthusiasm given the depth of his Icelandic roster.
His bookselling background means he thinks about books as objects readers actually buy and love. Frame your pitch around what makes a reader fall for your book, not just what makes it interesting to a critic.