An early mention for Because She Can, from Lloyd Grove in the Daily News:

An ex-Regan staffer’s work of friction

A wickedly savage fictional rendition of Judith Regan — the savagely wicked doyenne of the Harper-Collins imprint ReganBooks — is making the rounds in Hollywood and among gleeful ex-employees of the 52-year-old publishing terror.

Rest assured that she won’t be publishing former ReganBooks editor Bridie Clark’s novel, “Because She Can,” which could alternatively be titled “The Devil Wears Pantsuits,” though I doubt anyone will take me up on this suggestion.

Instead, Warner Books has scheduled February for the release of Clark’s novel, which focuses on Vivian Grant, a wildly abusive, foul-mouthed, pantsuit-wearing publisher who favors down-market best sellers about strippers and pimps, boasts about her sexual escapades to overworked staffers, and carries on an extramarital affair with a New York City public official who — presumably unlike Regan’s onetime paramour, former Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik — likes to be photographed wearing lipstick and lingerie.
The novel, a copy of which was provided to me by a Hollywood development exec, also contains a couple of lovely shout-outs to this column, which has toiled diligently over the past couple of years to report on Regan’s excellent adventures.

In one passage, the protago-nist, Claire Truman, receives an E-mail from a friend: “READ TODAY’S LLOYD GROVE … Then run for cover … I am scared for you.”

Clark — who, like the long-suffering Ms. Truman, worked for ReganBooks as an editor for about a year — could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A ReganBooks publicist told me his boss also was unreachable.