Sony Pictures Television-backed Eleventh Hour Films, known for Rebus, Magpie Murders and Alex Rider among other titles, has optioned the rights to CM Ewan’s thriller The House Hunt. 
 

The book is published today (31 August) and centres on a couple, Lucy and Sam, whose recently-refurbed home is up for sale.

When her estate agent can’t make a viewing, Lucy ends up showing a potential buyer around the property instead, but events spiral when the man refuses to leave.  
 

Eleventh Hour’s creative director Paula Cuddy, executive producer and head of talent Eve Gutierrez and chief executive Jill Green will executive produce.  
 

They said: “Chris, takes a relatable, ordinary situation and masterfully tilts it on a knife-edge, delivering a tense and gripping story that twists and turns to the very end. We can’t wait to bring it to screen and produce a nerve-shredding rollercoaster ride for audiences”. 
 

Ewan, who also executive produces, added: “Every writer dreams of finding a great partner for a TV adaptation of their work, and I knew from the first moment that Eleventh Hour Films expressed interest in The House Hunt that they were the perfect team to develop my book with all the vision and flair I could hope for. The quality drama Eleventh Hour Films are responsible for speaks for itself.”  
 

Eleventh Hour Films has just gone into post on its new iteration of Rebus, and is working on Moonflower Murders, the follow-up to Magpie Murders, which is shooting largely in Ireland. The company also recently produced The Killing Kind, which wrapped earlier this year, and which is based on the soon-to-be-published novel by Jane Casey. 
 

Magpie Murders photo via Eleventh Hour Films and SPE.