From Publishers Weekly
The editor in chief of
Cosmopolitan UK follows
Cosmo (U.S.) editor Kate White's lead by penning a mystery with a reporter in the starring role—but the narrative in Baker's busy whodunit has as much to do with what everyone's wearing as it does with what they're doing. Annie Anderson is a serious reporter going undercover at a fashion magazine. Or she's a burned-out investigative journalist taking refuge in a lighter job. Or, wait, she's an amateur detective with a heart of gold. At times it's hard to tell where Baker's going with her main character, who's the expected chick-lit combination of perky and put-upon, but the ride is fun. In New York to see the fashion shows and interview golden boy designer Mark Mailer, Annie quickly stumbles into a nightclub robbery that ends in Mailer's death. Was it just a robbery gone bad, or was Mailer targeted—and is his wife, ex-junkie and model Patty Lang, next? Annie's the only person Patty will trust with her story, and soon the reporter's knee deep in a chic world with a very seedy underbelly. If Baker's Americans seem to use the same Briticisms Annie does, and if general suspension of disbelief gets slightly strained by such a fashion-conscious mystery, well, those looking for a killer and a happy ending probably won't mind.
Agent, Emma Parry. (On sale May 31) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
As editor-in-chief of
Cosmopolitan UK, Baker knows fashion, and she uses that knowledge in her debut novel featuring British investigative journalist Annie Anderson. When Annie leaves her reporter job to work for glitzy
Handbag magazine, only her boss knows that she's taking the job to do undercover work. Exactly what she's supposed to investigate remains somewhat unclear, but, ultimately, it hardly matters. The real draw here is the crazy fashion show world, with its glamorous settings in New York, Milan, and London. While in Manhattan, Annie witnesses the murder of Mark Mailer, a hot young designer she has been interviewing. Although the shooting appears to be a random robbery run amuck, Annie believes otherwise--and discovers that Patty, Mark's strung-out model girlfriend, feels the same way. Populating the story with a host of appealing secondary characters, including Rebecca, Annie's formidable boss at
Handbag, and Lou, Annie's saucy best friend, Baker creates an adventure that will appeal to fashionable and frumpy alike. Pair this with the Bailey Weggins mysteries by
Cosmopolitan U.S. editor Kate White.
Jenny McLarinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
