Short Takes

A memoir by a former CIA operative, Under Cover by Lindsay Moran, tells how an idealistic young Harvard grad joined the agency, served in strife-torn Macedonia and eventually left, her illusions shattered. It was won at auction by Jennifer Hershey at Putnam, who bought North American rights from agent Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic, and will be published next spring.... HarperCollins Children's Books has bought the first in what is expected to be a series about "a Latina Nancy Drew." It's called Martika Galvez: The Jaguar of Uxmal and is about a Mexican-American girl with mystic powers solving a kidnapping mystery. The author is TV actress Michele Greene and the sale to editor Phoebe Yeh was made by Victoria Sanders .... Eve Ensler, author of the long-running show The Vagina Monologues, has sold a new book to Random's Ileene Smith. It's V-World, a collection of frank essays, poems and unpublished monologues aimed at a female readership, and Smith got world rights from agent Charlotte Sheedy .... Senior editor Alison Callahan at HarperCollins has signed a new novel by Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin. It's called Michael Tolliver Lives and follows one of the author's best-known and best-loved characters through a typical day as he ages gracefully. It was a deal for North American and audio, signed with Amanda Urban at ICM.