“Final Draft: An Olivia Lively Mystery,” by Shelley Burbank Submitted photo

The University of Maine at Farmington’s Visiting Writers Series will present a special event with author and alumna Shelley Burbank to celebrate the release of her debut novel “Final Draft: An Olivia Lively Mystery.” Burbank, of the UMF class of 1990, will read from her work at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 8, in The Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center. The reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing with the author.

Shelley Burbank Submitted photo by Nicholas Barrett

Burbank’s novel follows the adventures of private investigator, Olivia Lightly, hot on a plagiarism case as she avoids the troubles in her own life, including her stalker, her socialite mother and her best friend who is fed up with Liv’s drama. As the plagiarism case grows more complicated and her private life more confused, Liv learns that the line between truth and fiction is not always clearly defined.

Book reviewer Char Jones writes, Burbank “has written a delicious debut – a find romantic mystery – with a character and story that hold you close.” Author Anne Britting Olsen writes of the novel, “Shelley Burbank has an eye for the details that make her characters attractive to readers and that paint a perfect backdrop for those characters to act against.”

Burbank is a mystery and women’s fiction author and journalist based in Maine and San Diego. Her short fiction has been published in True Story Magazine, San Diego Woman Magazine and The Maine Review. She is a long-time contributing writer to the Waterboro Reporter. She is an alumna of the University of Maine at Farmington where she earned her degree in Secondary English Education and took several writing classes. She was also a member of the UMF Literary Guild.

Final Draft: An Olivia Lively Mystery is available for pre-purchase at the UMF University Bookstore and at Devany, Doak, and Garret Booksellers.

The Visiting Writer Series is sponsored by the UMF Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program.