OFF BEAT: Author claims writer plagiarized her romance book, added sex

Hell hath no fury like a romance novelist scorned.

Rachel Ann Nunes, a Utah-based Christian author, claims that another writer, Tiffanie Rushton, plagiarized her 1998 romance novel “A Bid for Love,” according to a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

To make matters worse, Ms. Nunes noted in her suit that Ms. Rushton’s 2014 book “The Auction Deal,” which she released earlier this year under the pen name Sam Taylor Mullens, “added several graphic sex scenes and other adult content to what was originally a Christian novel.”

After being confronted about the apparent similarities in the plots of their respective works, Ms. Nunes claims Ms. Rushton began posting a series of defamatory comments about her on several social media sites under various fake names, allegedly in an effort to discredit her as an author, according to court documents.

The lawsuit accuses Ms. Rushton of copyright infringement, defamation, harassment and tortious interference with prospective business relations. Ms. Nunes has asked for a statutory damages award of $150,000, as well as unspecified compensatory damages and an injunction barring Ms. Rushton from continued sales of her book.