Camille Marchetta's resume includes writing for TV shows such as “Dallas” and “Dynasty” and producing for various others. These days, the Brooklyn-born Marchetta is still writing -- but novels instead of TV scenes. She just published her third novel, "The River, By Moonlight."

In New York City in 1917, the wealthy and beautiful Lily Canning is only 25 years old and is a promising artist. But when she ends up dead in the Hudson River, suicide seems an unlikely possibility.

“Years ago, friends told me of an exhibition they'd seen on their travels of paintings by a woman artist who had killed herself at the age of 25,” Marchetta told me via email. “She was beautiful, talented, beloved. Why would she have done it? I wondered. I couldn't get the story out of my mind, and eventually I decided to write ‘The River, By Moonlight,’ using the original, rather sketchy, anecdote as a springboard.” 

She continues, “That's how I usually begin a novel, with a small item I've seen or heard or read, one with some sort of ‘puzzle’ (for lack of a better word) at its core that I find troubling. I go on from there, researching endlessly, building a cast of characters, evolving a plot, creating a world, really. By the time I reach the end, there's not much connection between the finished book and what prompted it, but I've usually settled on an explanation for what happened, one that I hope will satisfy my readers as well as me.”

In "The River, By Moonlight," Marchetta reveals Lily's intriguing life in layers. It's "a deeply moving study of grief and despair, of the resilience of human nature, and the triumph of determination and hope," the book's description says. The book joins 1998's "The Wives of Frankie Ferraro" and 1991's "Lovers and Friends" in Marchetta's collection.

”Both my previous novels were contemporary fiction,” Marchetta says, “but ‘The River, By Moonlight’ is set in 1917, and I loved the challenge of trying to make an era I didn't know from personal experience seem real, to make characters from that time vivid and believable. I think I succeeded. But of course I'd love to hear what you and your readers have to say about it."

You can learn more about Camille Marchetta at her official website, www.camillemarchetta.com.