Anthony Awards Best First Novel (nominee)
FEMME FATALES
OBSESSIVE LOVE
DOUBLE CROSSES
How does a respectable young woman fall into Los Angeles' hard-boiled underworld?
Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott's debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue. This ingenious twist on a classic noir tale 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 on by inconsistencies in Alice's personal history and possibly jealous of Alice's hold on her brother, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy 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 he 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.
Genre: Mystery
OBSESSIVE LOVE
DOUBLE CROSSES
How does a respectable young woman fall into Los Angeles' hard-boiled underworld?
Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott's debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue. This ingenious twist on a classic noir tale 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 on by inconsistencies in Alice's personal history and possibly jealous of Alice's hold on her brother, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy 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 he 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.
Genre: Mystery
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Used availability for Megan Abbott's Die a Little
Hardback Editions
June 2005 : USA Hardback
February 2005 : USA Hardback
Paperback Editions
April 2014 : USA Paperback
August 2008 : UK Paperback
Audio Editions
March 2021 : Audio CD
March 2021 : Audio CD
January 2006 : USA Audio edition
January 2006 : Canada Audio edition
May 2005 : USA Audio CD
May 2005 : USA Audio CD
May 2005 : Audio CD
March 2005 : USA MP3 CD
Kindle Editions
September 2008 : UK Kindle edition

Title: Die A Little: Suspenseful and evocative novel of Hollywood's sleazy underbelly
Author(s): Megan Abbott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Availability: Amazon UK
February 2005 : USA, Canada Kindle edition