Melville House Books

Jessica Cutler, the “mailgirl” in the office of Senator MikeDeWine “who set Washington abuzz with a steamy online sex diary, is between the covers again — with a thinly veiled novel based on her romps through the corridors of power,” reports an Agence France Presse wire story. The new book is called The Washingtonienne — the same name as her “smutty online diary,” which included “explicit descriptions of sexual liaisons on Capitol Hill and included depictions of sexual favors for money.” The blog, notes the AFP, “transfixed the US capital’s gossipy colony of policy wonks and pen pushers last year.” According to the AFP report, the book tells a story seemingly similar to Cutler’s own, about “a neophyte intern who gets a job on Capitol Hill and is soon hopping from bed to bed before crashing down in a firestorm of Washington scandal.” Cutler, “who also posed online for Playboy,” was reportedly paid six fgures for the book by HyperionDisney. However, Cutler, who said she took money for sex because “she needed [it] to supplement her 25,00-dollar-per-year paycheck,” may not be able to savor her new found riches for long: a lawyer from DeWine’s Senate office, Robert Steinbuch, has filed a civil suit against Cutler for what he feels was a too-thinly veiled depiction of himself on her blog.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.