‘Now You See Him’ -- everywhere?

NEW YORK -- Corporate synergy is alive and well at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

HarperCollins announced Tuesday that Sharp Entertainment had acquired film rights to a new novel by Eli Gottlieb, “Now You See Him,” to be published next month by the publishing firm’s William Morrow imprint.

Jeff Sharp, chief executive of Sharp Entertainment and a producer of such films as “Proof,” “You Can Count on Me” and “Boys Don’t Cry,” entered into a strategic partnership with the publisher last October, under which his firm is encouraged to adapt new titles and books from HarperCollins’ extensive backlist for potential films.

Meanwhile, the publisher also announced that Gottlieb, Sharp and Michael Morrison, president and group publisher of Harper/Morrow, will host a panel discussion at this month’s Sundance Festival in Utah titled “From Books to Film -- the Changing Landscape of the Film and Publishing Industries.”

The panel is hosted by the Wall Street Journal, also owned by Murdoch, as part of its three-day Point of View events held at the festival.

Gottlieb’s book probes the aftereffects of a murder committed by a famous writer as the national media is drawn into the story. His first novel, “The Boy Who Went Away,” won several prizes, including the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.