Penguin Group USA

Portfolio, the business imprint of Penguin Group USA, paid over $350,000 for the rights to a book by Peter Elkind about the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Mr. Elkind, who wrote a cover story about Mr. Spitzer for Fortune in 2005, will be collaborating with filmmaker Alex Gibney, who is working on a Spitzer documentary, the release of which will be timed to the publication of the book.  read more »

Romance novelist Cassie Edwards, who has recently come under fire for copying material from reference books and articles and using it in her books, seems to have lost the unqualified support of her publisher, Signet Books, who just last week were saying with confidence that Ms. Edwards had "done nothing wrong."

Now, the AP reports that Signet--an imprint of Penguin Group USA-- has issued a statement essentially saying that their earlier remarks may have been premature, and that a full review of Ms. Edwards' work is required.

"Our original comments were based on Signet's review of a limited selection of passages," the statement read, according to the AP. "We believe the situation deserves further review. Therefore we will be examining all of Ms. Edwards' books that we publish, and based on the outcome of that review we will take action to handle the matter accordingly. We want to make it known that Signet takes any and all allegations of plagiarism very seriously."  read more »