Big Name Fan

Cowriting couple Knox and Mare (who previously collaborated on Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous, written as Mae Marvel) bridge Hollywood high drama, cozy mystery, and gentle slow-burn romance in this sweetly satisfying outing. The detective show Craven’s Daughter never acknowledged the romantic subtext between leads Cora Banks and Henri Shannon—nor the obvious chemistry between the actors who played them, Bexley Simon and Samantha Farmer—but when the show ended abruptly five years ago, the fans wrote their own happy endings for the women in fan fiction posted online. When Bex and Sam join forces for a rewatch podcast leading up to a reunion special, their first guest, a former castmate, intimates that the most popular writer of Craven’s Daughter fanfic may have been an insider telegraphing intel about on-set conflict in her stories, including clues about what really happened to Jen Arnot, the show’s makeup designer, who fell to her death from a filming location’s balcony. This new information spurs Bex and Sam to press their former colleagues about things many would prefer to keep quiet while simultaneously building the bravery to finally admit their feelings for each other. Readers who love to overanalyze their favorite shows will feel especially seen. This low-heat love letter to the queer fanfic community is a gem. (Mar.)