X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Book 'em, Dano

The last time we visited the Web site of Lee Roystone, she had posted an extensive scrapbook...

Scott Ard Former Editor in Chief, CNET
CNET former Editor in Chief Scott Ard has been a journalist for more than 20 years and an early tech adopter for even longer. Those two passions led him to editing one of the first tech sections for a daily newspaper in the mid 1990s, and to joining CNET part-time in 1996 and full-time a few years later.
See full bio
Scott Ard

The the Web site of Lee Roystone (the pen name for Lee Whitnum), she had posted an extensive scrapbook of her 20-month relationship with presidential candidate John Kerry. Apparently, her 15 minutes of fame burned a bit too hot, with hundreds of people none too pleased with the newspaper clippings, notes of adoration for Kerry and the related hawking of her novels--one published and one to be published after the election.

The site was inaccessible Thursday and came back Friday, sans the Kerry scrapbook. In a Web log entry dated Aug. 20, Whitnum writes: "I've gotten 1,500 emails (mainly hate mail), and they are still arriving, even though I don't have a contact page. I've turned down many interviews from major news TV shows. Thanks, but I can't. Please check back (if you are still interested in me or the book) after November 2. I can't believe this has gotten this crazy. I'm not sure what to do. I guess lay low until the election."

By the way, her new book, "Hedge Fund Mistress," is described thus: "After a heart-wrenching romance with a United States senator, Nicki Matthews wanders the United States, eventually ending up in Greenwich, Conn. Although it is years later, the repercussions of that relationship influence her future and that of a nation."

The timing of the release is actually fortuitous for the busy Kerry. He can read ""="">"Unfit for Command" before the election and "Hedge Fund Mistress" afterward.