The Author's Guide to Murder

Williams, Willig, and White, who most recently collaborated on The Lost Summers of Newport, fictionalize the origins of their partnership in this delightful send-up of the book industry. The faux-friendship between authors Cassie Parsons, who writes baking-centered cozy mysteries; Emma Endicott, whose historicals center the lives of underappreciated women; and Kat de Noir, whose work leans toward the racy and supernatural, has been arranged by their publicists so the three can apply together to a writers’ residency at a Scottish castle. The residency is run by loutish local author Brett Saffron Presley, and when Presley is found stabbed to death by a stag’s antler on the night of the town festival, the American women become the primary suspects. Though the plot is rather run-of-the-mill, its pieces fall into place gracefully, with surprise romances and knowingly silly deus ex machinae propelling the action. The characters are both sympathetic and hilarious, and there’s an unapologetic glee in how much everyone hates the boorish victim. While the story’s meta aspects are perhaps a touch self-indulgent, genre fans will eat it up. This is good fun.Agents: (for Williams and Willig) Alexandra Machinist, CAA; (for White) Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Nov.)