Bull market in Bear books?

The race is on.

It’s just been a few months since the near collapse and rescue of Bear Stearns, and a book promising an insider’s view of those fateful weeks in March is already being flogged.

It certainly won’t be the last. Days after the brokerage’s implosion, Bertelsmann AG’s Doubleday imprint announced a book project of its own, to be authored by William Cohan, who also wrote the insiders yarn about Lazard “The Last Tycoons.” But that book reportedly won’t come out until 2009.

That will leave the coast clear for now for “Bear-Trap”, by an anonymous senior executive at one of Bear Stearns’ derivatives groups and CMG Holdings’ Andrew Spencer, which will be out in stores Sept. 22. (It can be pre-ordered on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.)

CMG Holdings, a marketing firm, is looking further ahead, planning to get networks to bid for the electronic rights to the book next month.

“Bear Trap is the most powerful Wall Street story since the collapse of Drexel, and it has the added drama of the complexities and politics of the Federal Reserve Bank’s involvement,” Alan Morell, CEO of Creative Management Group Agency, said in a statement. “This is tailor-made for a television true-drama story.”

In the book, the Bear Stearns executive tells the tale of what happened at the storied Wall Street bank, leading to its weekend rescue by rival JPMorgan Chase, including to the roles played by the U.S. Treasury and the Fed as well as foreign demand for U.S. capital, according to the statement.

Looking for a taste of it?

The promotional website highlights what one assumes must be the defining quote (it’s in large, red letters on a black background): “You just can’t make this sh** up.”

That’s probably true. But you can surely try profit from it.

(Photo credit: Reuters)