Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet

By: Emma Mills

Narrated by: Christine Lakin

Celebrity gossip can cut to the quick, but when it turns deadly it’s up to an aspiring reporter and her quirky neighbors to close the case in the first of a witty and nostalgic new mystery series.

Baby doll top, gladiator sandals, and fully loaded iPod at the ready: it’s 2008 in Los Angeles, and Rachel West is a little less starry-eyed than your average ingenue. Copyediting a celeb gossip rag isn't the glossy entertainment journalism Rachel thought she would be doing but hey, it pays the bills. Some of them, anyway.

Rachel’s life changes overnight after meeting Molly Byrne, a former child star and current tabloid fave for her drunken escapades and rotating cast of boyfriends, and what begins as a chance encounter in a nightclub bathroom quickly grows into a genuine friendship.

When Molly is found dead, Hollywood accepts her death as an overdose. But Rachel knows for a fact her friend was clean—and she’s not alone in her suspicions that Molly was murdered.

With the help of a ragtag group of residents from her apartment building, a friendly paparazzo, and a handsome detective, Rachel must solve the mystery of Molly’s death before she’s written off for good.

Critic reviews

“Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet has everything—a fast-paced, tightly plotted mystery; an abundance of humor and banter; and the feeling of living inside a magazine getting all the celebrity gossip first. An addicting, fun, entertaining romp of a read! I devoured this.”—Gloria Chao, USA Today bestselling author of The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club

“This book kept me guessing. I even had an aha moment when I was sure I knew the murderer and I was completely wrong! So many great characters. What a fun read!”—Jo Firestone, author of Murder on Sex Island

“[Rachel] starts her own investigation, aided by a fun, eccentric crew of neighbors from her apartment complex, an elusive paparazzi photographer, a snarky coworker, and a hot police detective. Readers will happily tag along on this fast-paced, witty caper.”—Booklist

"[R]eaders in search of a winning dose of late-aughts nostalgia and an endearing heroine will find them here.”—Publishers Weekly