The Crasher [Mass Market Paperback]

Shirley Lord (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

Ginny Walker...she's enormously talented, runway-model slim, and struggling to be noticed as a fashion designer in New York City. Crashing her first party was an accident. After that, helped by a racy, handsome journalist with an agenda of his own, Ginny thrives on the thrill of slipping uninvited into fabulous events. Until her dream becomes a nightmare...

Crashing a party in her most stunning design ever, Ginny witnesses a vicious murder. She is sure the assailant recognizes her, and flees in panic, leaving behind her spectacular velvet cloak....

Now Ginny is the mystery witness the police can't find. She's afraid she knows too much, she's being watched, and she needs someone to help her in this dangerous world of high fashion and lies. The wrong choice will spell her destruction; the right one will give her a last, breathtaking chance to survive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Powerful fashion magazine editor Lord (My Sister's Keeper; The Easy Way to Good Looks) knows her stuff: the rag trade, journalism, law enforcement, making the scene. Alas, authentic details (and enough famous names to fill Billy Norwich's Rolodex) only expose the thinness of her heavily sequined plot. Ambitious young designer Ginny Walker crashes the Beautiful People's parties, hoping the press will notice her original talent. She succeeds?and then some?when she leaves her cloak at a New York Public Library gala after witnessing the murder of a drug lord on a darkened upper floor. Most of the book is back story, bringing us from Ginny's unhappy adolescence (hapless mother; delusional father) through her hard life outside the in-crowd to love with John Q. Peet, a stylish journalist who lives for a warm word from his more famous journalist father. Lord's prose wanders into excess at every opportunity, and the whodunit aspects of the narrative are lifeless. Even so, many readers will cheer plucky Ginny when she makes it past the velvet ropes into the glittery world of her dreams.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The crasher of the title is Ginny Walker, a talented fashion designer who, with no money and no backing, is having trouble breaking into the business. To get her designs noticed, Ginny starts crashing parties and fashion shows--anyplace she can get her picture taken wearing her designs. Alas, her penchant for wearing her own noticeable clothes to these events turns into trouble when she becomes a witness to a murder and leaves her cloak at the scene of the crime. Although this incident begins the book, it is not until much later--after plenty of backstory regarding Ginny, her envious cousin, her journalist boyfriend, and the fashion scene in general--that the murder returns to center stage. The buildup is a little slow in developing and the payoff a bit long in coming, but the author, a former editor at Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, brings alive the fashion and society worlds while also constructing a fairly exciting crime plot. This will appeal to fans of both Judith Krantz's fashion-and-passion melodramas and Judith Michael's glitzy thrillers. Ilene Cooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446606634
• ISBN-13: 978-0446606639
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,948,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Based on Victoria Scott D'Angelo's short story and life., May 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Crasher (Hardcover)

The book is great and incorporates some of Victoria D'Angelo's life. They are the best parts and very original.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Crasher, February 9, 2000

By 

Sun Seeker "Sunny" (Redmond, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crasher (Mass Market Paperback)

A fascinating look at not only the fashion industry, but the New York society scene as well. I found this book difficult to put down, once I began. Reminded me of Dominick Dunne's writing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you like fluff, January 4, 2002

By 

T. Singh (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Crasher (Hardcover)

I rented this book on tape from my local library. I'm going to nab the $1.50 used version right now if I can. I am interested in fashion and I learned some interesting things about the industry like the fact that clothes are cut by huge machines. That way they cut more than one copy at a time.

I did NOT like the racial slurs. The references to foreign cab drivers was very distasteful in my book. Those types of innocent comments turn my stomach. There was another reference to someone's figure that wasn't perfect. I mean come on this was written in 1998 has Shirley Lord every heard of Sophie Dahl? Models now come in plus size.

If you work in an office and can get this book on tape from your local library I recommend it especially if you're interested in fashion. The Ginnie character was a bit too dumb in my opinion. I guess it's a snap shot of Ms. Lord's sheltered world view. If you can stomach it I suppose it makes for an interesting read or listen.