Deadly Beautiful: A Novel

by Sam Baker

Fashion and murder collide in Deadly Beautiful, Sam Baker’s smart, hip, and thrilling new novel as newspaper reporter-turned-fashion writer Annie Anderson investigates a secret underground where many drop-dead-gorgeous models have gone to “make it”–and some have just dropped dead.

A serial killer with a thirst for young American models-slash-escorts is on the loose in Tokyo, and the local press is all over it. When supermodel Scarlett Ulrich goes missing while on assignment in Japan, an international media frenzy erupts. At a tender age, Scarlett had the face that launched a million album covers, and her career exploded from there. Now, with only a few clues and no body, the authorities wonder if she’s tied to the recent rash of Jack the Ripper-style killings.

Annie Anderson swears that she’s done with investigative reporting. After all, these days she jets off to Paris, Milan, her native London, and, now, New York City for Fashion Week–as a front-row writer for Handbag Magazine. But when Annie learns that Scarlett is actually the half sister of her best friend, she’s on the next plane to the Far East to get the scoop on the missing supermodel.

In the electric metropolis of Tokyo, Annie descends into the gritty, cutthroat underbelly of the international fashion industry to uncover the truth behind Scarlett’s disappearance. But navigating this mysterious territory is riskier than she thought, and she’ll need to watch her fabulously coutured back–because someone out there is dressed to kill. And Annie just might be the next hot number to be knocked off.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 19, 2008

About the author

Sam Baker grew up in Hampshire and, after a degree in politics at Birmingham University, became a journalist, going on to edit some of the UK's biggest magazines. For six years she was Editor in Chief of Red magazine, where she set up the Red Hot Women Awards recognising achievement across politics, science, tech, the arts, media and charity, as well as championing support for Refuge, the charity for victims of domestic abuse.

In 2015 she co-founded and launched The Pool with Lauren Laverne, the online platform that makes inspiring and original content for busy women.

Sam is married to the novelist Jon Courtenay Grimwood and lives in Winchester. When she’s not working or writing she escapes by devouring crime novels or watching box sets.

Reviews

[Leslie Zampetti · Rating 2 out of 5]

More hardboiled than I was expecting - chick-lit atmosphere with a another damaged detective swirled together into a literary Cosmopolitan with a kick. The story's enough to keep you reading, and the fashion milieu is believable although I don't think the twist is much of a surprise.

I'd recommend this to folks who read Vogue and the Shopaholic works but who also like Connelly, Coben, et al.