Deborah Levison, A Novel Crime, in Conversation w/Lynne Constantine

She wanted to write the perfect novel. Instead, she became the perfect villain.

Struggling romance writer and recent divorcée Marcy Jo Codburn feels like a failure. She’s green with author envy and longing for a book deal, a launch party with cupcakes, and the admiration of her daughter. But her dream of literary success is fading faster than her beige hair dye. When she witnesses celebrated author Francesca Barber in a compromising position, Marcy sees her chance. Transforming into Summer Branigan, her bolder, blonder pen name, she leverages Francesca’s secret to secure the ultimate coauthor.

As their collaboration spirals from Marcy’s modest Connecticut home to Francesca’s lavish Hamptons estate, both women discover that in the cutthroat world of publishing, every story has its price. With looming deadlines, a kidnapping plot gone awry, and more than one fraud to hide, their twisted partnership careens toward a surprise ending neither could have written.

In this darkly comic page-turner, critically acclaimed author Deborah Levison skewers the publishing industry with razor-sharp wit. A Novel Crime asks just how far an aspiring writer will go to see her name on a book jacket―and what happens when the stories we tell start to write themselves.

Join us for a conversation with Levison led by Milford's own Lynne Constantine, the New York Times bestselling author of, most recently, Don't Open Your Eyes, out in paperback next month, and Promise Me Never, coming in August 2026.

About the authors:

Deborah Levison is the award-winning author of the novel A Nest of Snakes and the true crime book The Crate. Her life has two parts: the first in Canada, where she attended the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, and the second in Connecticut, where she lives with three children, two doodles, and one husband.
Lynne Constantine writes with her sister Valerie under the pen name Liv Constantine; their books have sold millions of copies worldwide. Lynne holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. She writes the Jack Logan series under the pen name L.C. Shaw, and is currently co-writing television and film adaptations of The Network, Everybody is a Liar, and The Senator’s Wife.

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