EXCLUSIVE: M.K. Oliver’s debut novel A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage is making a splash years before its release, landing high-profile TV and publishing deals. Hulu has put in development a series adaptation of the darkly comedic crime mystery. It will be written by Liz Tigelaar (Little Fires Everywhere) who will serve as showrunner.
Tigelaar and her producing partner Stacey Silverman will executive produce through their Best Day Ever company alongside Oliver. 20th Television, where Tigelaar is based, is the studio.
The TV sale follows a competitive action for the U.S. rights to the manuscript, won by Simon & Schuster, and a preemptive deal with Hemlock Press, Harper Collins in the UK. Translation rights are being handled by Curtis Brown, with a Brazilian deal confirmed with Faro Editorial and other markets in negotiations ahead of this week’s Frankfurt Book fair.
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A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, which will be published in 2026, follows Lalla Rook — a reformed sociopath trying to make it as a regular mom. There’s just the small problem of a dead body — which she may have stabbed repeatedly — in her living room. As Lalla navigates getting what she wants despite useless husbands, needy children, private school admissions and the trappings of suburban life, she’s unencumbered by pesky things like shame, guilt and morals. But as mysteries unfurl and bodies pile up, Lalla’s dark past threatens to rear its ugly head…
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Originally from Liverpool, Oliver was a teacher and Headteacher and worked for educational charities for most of his career while enjoying writing courses at the Royal Court Theatre, Curtis Brown Creative and Faber and Faber.
Following a decision a year ago, “to give writing a go now before it’s too late,” Oliver left his career and moved back to London. The result was A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, which he then sent out as a submission.
“A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage is a singular and remarkable book that Best Day Ever feels truly honored and beyond thrilled to adapt as a series,” Tigelaar and Silverman said in a joint statement. “Told with M.K. Oliver’s razor sharp and delightfully incisive voice, it brilliantly presents a radical, subversive female character who is blissfully free of the guilt and shame that weighs so heavily on the modern woman — both on-screen and off. This dark and hilarious examination of middle-class striving is as deliciously off-kilter as its complicated protagonist — part mad-cap detective story, part whirling soap, part demented superhero tale, and shimmering beneath all of it, a wholly original story about the struggle to love and be loved.”
This marks the latest series project at Hulu for Best Day Ever, which follows several Emmy-nominated limited series — all based on books — Tiny Beautiful Things and Little Fires Everywhere — both adapted by Tigelaar — and this year’s Under The Bridge. Tigelaar and Silverman are also in development on The Guest List, based on the bestselling novel by Lucy Foley, at Hulu, along with other projects under the company’s 20th TV deal.
On the feature side, Tigelaar wrote an adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, for Netflix.
Tigelaar and Best Day Ever are repped by UTA and Wendy Kirk at Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Oliver is repped by UTA and Curtis Brown. The deals were brokered by UTA & Curtis Brown.