Napoleon's Novella Reveals His Sappy Side

Author claims assistant stole $2.7M

(NEWSER) - A long-time assistant has pleaded guilty to embezzling $400,000 from best-selling romance queen Danielle Steel. Kristy Watts admitted depositing checks for Steel into her own bank account and using the author's credit card points to obtain gifts and airline tickets. Steel, who has written 76 best-selling novels, claims Watts defrauded her of $2.7 million and has filed a civil suit against her. More»

(NEWSER) - Nora Roberts is the most popular romance writer in America, but it’s not easy being on the top. “People go, ‘Oh, you work six or eight hours a day, oh my God,’” she tells the New Yorker. “‘Well, yeah, how many hours do you work?’ ‘Well, yeah, but …’ But nothing.” Roberts churns out five books a year, sold more than 18 million copies in 2008 alone, and brings in about $60 million a year. More»

She talked book up to schoolteacher, administrators

(NEWSER) - A Boston-area grade school principal is on indefinite leave following complaints that she peddled her steamy romance novel on school grounds and reassigned a teacher who criticized her self-promoting ways, the Globe reports. Beth Gannon's self-published book, which follows an engaged woman who reconnects with a past lover, is "pretty racy stuff," said one school committee member. More»

French prez proposed first time he met Carla: friend

(NEWSER) - Undeterred by his recent divorce, French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the night he met Carla Bruni and promised that she would be his Marilyn Monroe, according to a new tell-all book. Author Jacques Seguela is the same pal who introduced the couple at Sarko's request, the Times of London reports. More»

Italian researchers deflate claim of arsenic death

(NEWSER) - For decades scholars have debated whether Napoleon, who died in exile on the island of St. Helena in 1821, was poisoned with arsenic by his British captors; as recently as 2002 a biographer wrote that there was "nothing improbable about the hypothesis." But now a team of Italian scientists has conducted a detailed analysis of the French emperor's hair that seems to disprove the theory. More»