A Yale University law professor is about to become a household name in the UK thanks to the hosts of a popular daytime TV chat show that he had barely heard of.

Jed Rubenfeld is the only academic among eight writers who are finalists for this year's Richard & Judy Book Club Best Read Award. No matter how they fare in the competition, each of the shortlisted books is virtually guaranteed an explosion in sales.

Professor Rubenfeld's book - The Interpretation of Murder , a thriller set in turn-of-the-century Manhattan that draws in academic research on Sigmund Freud and Hamlet - is his first.

It has topped US bestseller lists and been translated into 32 languages.

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The film rights have been sold to Warner Bros. But hype in the UK is "in another stratosphere altogether", Professor Rubenfeld told The Times Higher .

"The publishers mentioned Richard & Judy , but I didn't know what it was. I was stunned the more I learnt about them and the enormous popularity of their book club," Professor Rubenfeld said.

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He still sees himself as an academic. "I'm not a novelist. I'm going to continue my academic job as long as I can. I love it."