Review: A Novel Crime by Deborah Vadas Levison

A Novel Crime by Deborah Vadas Levison

Blurb from Goodreads:

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.

 I'm almost mad at myself for finishing this one -- I kept waiting for it to turn and pick up but it just didn't.  I didn't like any of the characters and the story was weird and convoluted.  It also wasn't thrilling, at all. Hope you have better luck!

A Novel Crime comes out next week on March 31, 2026 and you can purchase HERE.  

This will be the year I sign with an agent and have my manuscript acquired by a top editor, at auction, with bids streaming in from every direction. I'll finally nail down that elusive contract of my dreams: a lucrative multibook deal with a gorgeous advance. I can't wait to join the ranks of a great publishing house, to be included in a stable of renowned authors, the ones whose work I read and admire, whose gushing blurbs will crowd my back cover. 

A sweeping tale of deceit and desire! Most enthralling romance I've read in years! Meet your new obsession! My announcement of the acquisition, in an eye-catching red, white, and blue notice, will get all the likes. By year's end the royalties will roll in, enough for me to buy a villa in Tuscany for my daughter and me. Well-that's the fantasy, anyway; I'd be happy just to pay off her college loans and set a good example of how to chase a dream.