Where are the true journalism novels?

Friday, February 22, 2008 | 5:00 p.m. CST; updated 1:48 a.m. CDT, Monday, July 21, 2008

I know something few other journalists know: Day after day, novelists are writing about us. Some of those writers actually work in newspaper, magazine, and broadcast newsrooms, but some of them have never even set foot inside a newsroom. What I call “journalism novels” — those with journalists as protagonists — get snatched up by pleasure readers across the nation. They show up in bookstores, airport shops, libraries and at online book retailers. They can be found in the “mystery fiction” and “romance fiction” sections, and, occasionally, the serious-literature section.

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