Quick recap: Valerie Plame, famously outed 3 years ago as a CIA agent, agreed to terms with Crown for her memoirs. That fell through and a contract was never signed because, according to sources, she wasn't willing to delve deep in the dirt about PlameGate and CIA dealings. Whatever the case, Simon & Schuster - who had been interested all along - finally snagged their woman, AP's Hillel Italie reports.

The news comes just as Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, are suing VP Dick Cheney and indicted aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby for outing her. They claim "a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House" to "discredit, punish and seek revenge" Wilson and sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys' fees and costs. (Our brother blog FishbowlNY has more, including the full text of the suit.)