Die a Little

Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott's debut novel Die a Little tells the story of Lora King, a schoolteacher, and her brother Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney's office. Lora's comfortable, suburban life is jarringly disrupted when Bill falls in love with a mysterious young woman named Alice Steele, a Hollywood wardrobe assistant with a murky past.

Made sisters by marriage but not by choice, the bond between Lora and Alice is marred by envy and mistrust. Spurred by inconsistencies in Alice's personal history and possibly jealous of Alice's hold on her brother, Lora finds she lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy 1950s Los Angeles. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she uncovers a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution and ultimately murder.

Lora's fascination with Alice's 'sins' increases in direct proportion to the escalation of her own relationship with Mike Standish, a charmingly amoral press agent who appears to know more about his old friend Alice than the reveals. The deeper Lora digs to uncover Alice's secrets, the more her own life begins to resemble Alice's sinister past- and present.

Steeped in atmospheric suspense and voyeuristic appeal, Die a Little shines as a dark star among Hollywood lights.

Megan Abbott is the Edgar-winning author of the novels, Die a Little, The Song is You and the 2008 Edgar winner, Queenpin. July 2009 will mark the release of Abbott's new novel Bury Me Deep. The film of Die a Little will also be released in 2009.
Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English Literature and went on to receive her PhD in English and American literature from New York University. She lives in Queens, New York City with her husband

Die a Little
Simon and Schuster Australia
Author: Megan Abbott
ISBN: 9781847393463
Price: $22.95