Tess Drake is a literary agent with only two clients: a depressive novelist whose masterpiece is a thousand-page fantasy retelling of Paradise Lost, and a dotty old woman who writes about pandas in children’s novels full of pro-PETA agendas. Tess has been toying with the idea of quitting the agency and opening her own. So when her boss dies and Tess’ archenemy Cosima takes control of the agency, it seems like a perfect time to exit. Except suddenly a young lawyer produces old manuscripts of the panda stories, claiming that his dad wrote them and Tess’ client plagiarized them. Oh, and she’s also sleeping with Cosima’s husband, and the police are suddenly very interested in her because they believe she killed her boss. Tess has to watch her back now that everything and everyone is suspect, as deals are made and money changes hands and rumors are spread. O’Brien’s novel is as cutthroat, merciless, and entertaining as a celebrity gossip Web site.