Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee Novels Being Adapted For The Small Screen​on March 12, 2025 at 2:00 pm

EXCLUSIVE: Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee novels are being given the small screen treatment.

Robin Cass and Robert Munroe are behind the adaptation of the Canadian author’s books, with a writer still being sought.

The deal is with Cass & Co and Blacktop Recess for 17 Ava Lee novels plus four Uncle Chow Tung prequel books. A globe-traveling enigma, Ava Lee is an unexpected heroine – a formidable forensic accountant, a fearless sleuth and a master of an ancient martial artform, Bak Mei – historically taught only to males. She is a true original as she outruns, outsmarts and outpaces the most dangerous criminals in the world. The 17 books include The Water Rat of Wanchai, The Disciple of Las Vegas and The Fury of Beijing.

“From my first read of the first novel in the series, Ava firmly implanted herself in my imagination and my heart. Bond is one thing. Ava Lee is quite another. She’s tough, fearless and fantastic,” said producer Cass. “What I love about Ava is that she is her own secret weapon and that no one sees her coming.”

Munroe said the Ava Lee novels are “the most exciting series of dramatic fiction I have read in decades.”

Munroe was nominated in 2011 for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for The Borgias and he has won three Gemini Awards (now Canadian Screen Awards) for his work on TekWar and The Tudors.

Cass’ credits include Lone Scherfig’s The Kindness of Strangers with Zoe Kazan, Bill Nighy and Andrea Riseborough, The Republic of Love from Pulitzer Prize winner Carol Shields’ novel with Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne and Max von Sydow and High Life with Timothy Olyphant.