Tatiana Boncompagni, the first-time author of Gilding Lily (a HarperCollins book), just sued her sister in federal court for allegedly stealing her next manuscript.

The book at issue is Hedge Fund Wives, a novel that harks back to a happier time in the American economy. The case will be handled by Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain, according to filings at the federal court website.

According to a New York Post article, the lawsuit reads like a hardboiled novel of its own: "[Tatiana Boncompagni] Hoover -- whose hubby, Maximillian, is an heir to the Hoover vacuum-cleaner fortune -- alleges her 33-year-old sister downloaded drafts of the new novel off her laptop every night while Hoover spent a week at her family's Milwaukee home in August."

Her sister emailed the Observer yesterday, describing her side of the story: "From the very beginning, Tatiana and I were a 'writing team': my decade long Wall Street career experience and insider's knowledge of the social workings of the Hedge Fund community, coupled with Tatiana's writing experience and requisite knowledge of the mechanics of constructing a novel."