Lani Sarem
publication date: Monday, September 16, 2019 (part of Fall 2019)
category: 
Hoaxes
clue: Her YA novel became a handbook for scamming your way onto the bestseller list for a single day.
explanation: In 2017, Sarem's debut novel Handbook for Mortals entered the New York Times bestseller list at #1, but was pulled 23 hours later amid mounting evidence that Sarem had gamed the system, which she admitted in later interviews. more…
difficulty: medium
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, Chris Lemler, Matthew Preston, Richard Slominsky, and Erik Bates
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