Journalist Amanda Cassidy has signed a two-book deal with publisher Canelo.
It has acquired the rights to her debut crime thriller, 'Breaking'.
The book, which will be published in October, tells the story of how a family's luxury holiday in the Florida Keys turns into a waking nightmare.
Their youngest daughter, Alannah, goes missing from the beach - and it soon transpires her mother, Mirren, was seen drinking heavily at a bar prior to the disappearance.
She becomes the focus of the investigation, while desperately seeking to hold herself - and her family - together.
The publisher says Breaking "explores the intricacies of motherhood and looks at the uncomfortable truth about a collective desire to create 'worthy' victims.
"It offers readers a gripping police investigation, driven by a detective battling with his own pressures, as well as a deeply felt, discomfiting portrayal of a family's desperation when faced with their child being lost while overseas."
On her book, Amanda - a former Newstalk newsreader - says: "With Breaking, I wanted to shine a light on some of the complexities of motherhood I'd never seen written about before.
"I'm so thrilled that this novel is being championed by Canelo, who have published so many writers I admire.
"I'm hugely grateful to my brilliant agent Madeleine Milburn and my skilful editor Louise Cullen for their enthusiasm and insight – the dream team for any debut novelist."
Louise Cullen, publishing director with Canelo, adds: "It is rare to discover a novel that delivers so successfully on as many fronts as Amanda’s debut does.
"The premise allows for a compulsive crime novel with excellent police procedural elements at its heart, but it is also so much more.
"Reading about Mirren's raw, unfiltered feelings towards her children makes for an utterly absorbing read, while the conclusion is like a gut-punch."
Amanda has been shortlisted for the Irish Journalist of the Year Awards, and more recently the Headline Media writing awards.
