Richard Price to publish next novel under pen name

NEW YORK (AP) - Richard Price doesn’t have a title yet for his next novel, but he does have a name for the author. And it isn’t Richard Price.

The author of “Clockers” and “Freedomland” will publish under the name Jay Morris for a planned series of detective thrillers set in New York City. Publisher Henry Holt and Company announced Thursday that the first book is scheduled for fall 2011.

Pseudonyms are a publishing tradition, a well-used sleight of hand, whether Nora Roberts writing some books as J.D. Robb or Ruth Rendell at times calling herself Barbara Vine.

Price says in a statement: “This, God save me, should be fun.”