A Novel Crime

Levison follows A Nest of Snakes with an acerbic sophomore novel that considers the dark side of literary ambition. Middle-aged divorcée Marcy Jo Codburn is finally ready to realize her dream of becoming a published author. She writes daily, belongs to a robust writers’ group, and scrolls social media feeds that brim with publishing content. When bestselling author Francesca Barber comes to Connecticut for a book signing, Marcy manages to not only meet her but to overhear which bar she’s headed to after the event. Marcy sneaks into the bar to intercept Francesca, then spies her in the arms of a married man and seizes the opportunity to blackmail the author into being her mentor. She gets an outline for her new book from Francesca, but soon her scheme spirals out of control, and what begins as an attempt to break into the book world ends up turning criminal. Gleefully unlikable characters and witty observations about the drudgery of writing make up for some wobbly pacing. It’s a wild exploration of the lengths some people will go to be known. Agent: Sarah Bedingfield, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Mar.)