Peruse a letter from a novelist (5)
I believe the answer is:
reade
'a novelist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'peruse a letter' is the wordplay.
'peruse' becomes 'read' (I've seen this before).
'a letter' becomes 'e' ().
'read'+'e'='READE'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for reade that I've seen before include "Charles -, The Cloister and the Hearth author" , "Victorian writer" , "Victorian author" , "Roman name for York" , "Charles --, wrote The Cloister and the Hearth" .)