Michelle is Vice President of Fuse Literary representing leaders in the crime fiction community, award-winners, and debut authors. She joined the agency after eight years in editorial at St. Martin’s Press, where she worked on fiction and nonfiction with high-profile personalities, New York Times bestsellers, and debuts. She has built her career finding underserved clients with major talent and helping them jump their careers to the next level. She wants to boost underrepresented voices in her favorite genres to break through and create lasting change in both their writing careers and the publishing industry. Her years of experience as an agent, at a Big 5 publisher, and as an educator inform her relationships with her clients and help her guide them through the complex stages of their careers. She was an adjunct lecturer for five years in the Master’s in Publishing program at Pace University, of which she is an alumna. She also frequently attends conferences throughout the United States.
Michelle’s clients have won or been shortlisted for such awards as the Edgar, Mary Higgins Clark, Strand Critics, Anthony, Agatha, Lefty, ITW Thriller, Macavity, Barry, Derringer, Silver Falchion, IPPY, and International Book Award.
Adult Fiction
Michelle is especially eager to find high-concept crime fiction with catchy hooks, twisty plots, and complex lead characters. She’s a sucker for fiction that taps into her emotions, with the kind of voice that instantly identifies a book as that author’s. BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled voices in fiction are welcome. Michelle loves lots of twists, unreliable narrators, isolated locales/locked rooms, stories of family secrets, friendships, and sibling relationships. She’s also seeking book club fiction that really makes you think and feel, and recent faves include THE CORRESPONDENT, ATMOSPHERE, and MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES.
Her favorite writers include Lucy Foley, Carol Goodman, Ruth Ware, Laura Lippman, Jennifer Hillier, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Elle Cosimano, Lisa Jewell, Alex Finlay, and Emma Straub. She’d love to find the next DON’T LET HIM IN, BATH HAUS, IT’S ELEMENTARY, SCORCHED GRACE, DIAL A FOR AUNTIES, CITY UNDER ONE ROOF, WINTER COUNTS, or MURDER TAKES A VACATION.
Genres Represented
- Mystery
- High-Concept Suspense
- Domestic Suspense
- Psychological Thriller
- Book Club Women’s Fiction
- Commercial Fiction
Children’s Fiction
Michelle is not taking on any children’s fiction at this time
Michelle Does Not Represent
- Political, Medical, Espionage, or Climate Thrillers
- Genre Fiction (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Western, Erotica)
- Satire
- Humor
- Memoir
- Children’s Picture, Chapter, Middle-Grade, or Young Adult Books
- Faith-based Fiction or Nonfiction
- Screenplays
- No previously published works at this time
