Die a Little: A Novel [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Megan Abbott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 2005

Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, this debut novel is a gem of the darkest hue. It tells the story of schoolteacher Lora King, who assumes the role of amateur detective when her brother, Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney's office, marries a young Hollywood wardrobe assistant with a murky past.

Available only in Mystery 5.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Finally, here is a modern noir that perfectly depicts Raymond Chandler's 1950s L.A. in all its seamy, sexy corruption."
-- Lisa Scottoline

About the Author

Megan Abbot has taught literature, writing, and film at New York University and at the State University of New York at Oswego. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University in 2000, and in 2002 Palgrave Macmillan published her nonfiction study The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir. She lives in New York City. Ellen Archer is an acclaimed audiobook narrator and winner of a coveted Audie Award for For the Love of a Dog (available from Tantor). Her recent audiobooks include the New York Times bestseller Smashed by Koren Zailckas, Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp, and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami. Producers and publishers describe Ellen as versatile, warm, intimate, fresh, fun, intelligent and sultry. She easily covers the spectrum between familiar and conversational and more authoritative and aggressive deliveries.

--This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (June 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786276460
• ISBN-13: 978-0786276462
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,993,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MEGAN ABBOTT is the Edgar-winning author of the novels Die a Little, The Song Is You, Queenpin and Bury Me Deep, which was nominated for six awards: the Edgar Award, Hammett Prize, the Macavity, Anthony and Barry Awards and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in Wall Street Noir, Detroit Noir, Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year, Phoenix Noir, Storyglossia, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer, Queens Noir and the LA Noire Anthology.

Her upcoming novel, The End of Everything, comes out in July 2011.

Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English Literature and went on to receive her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She lives in Queens, New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting tale of femme fatales, obsessive love, and unexpected double-crosses, August 5, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Die a Little (Audio CD)

A riveting tale of femme fatales, obsessive love, and unexpected double-crosses, Megan Abbott's novel set in the glamorous but duplicitous world of 1950s Hollywood is superbly narrated by Ellen Archer in this complete and unabridged audiobook edition (6.5 hours, 6 CDs). A noir story about a brother, a sister, and the brother's wife with a shady past, Die A Little focuses upon the hostile bond of two women made sisters through marriage. The blood sister takes on the role of amateur detective, in order to dig into the past of her sister-in-law, but the deeper she delves the more potential jeopardy she unleashes. A darkly thrilling and suspenseful story throughout, impressionably revealing the seedier side of show business glamour.

2.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't finish it, January 26, 2008

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Die a Little (Audio CD)

I got halfway through Die a Little (disc 3 of the unabridged audiobook read by Ellen Archer) before I gave up on it. Megan Abbott can definitely write, so I'll probably try another of her books (specifically the one I've heard the most about, Queenpin), but I'm marking this one up under the lost-time column.

When Lora King's brother Bill marries the mysterious Alice Steele after a quickie courtship, Lora begins to notice that her new sister-in-law doesn't seem to have any history. Currently working in wardrobe in Hollywood, Alice has a friend named Lois that seems to tell Lora a lot about their past together (as does a certain photo on a certain playing card), and Lora takes it upon herself to find out just who this woman is that her brother has married.

Abbott has set Die a Little in the 1950s, and for good reason. A lot of the goings-on are not quite so shocking to modern readers, and enveloping them in a less permissive time makes them a little easier to take as such. (I mean, who in Hollywood these days doesn't have some naked photos just waiting for the right offer to surface?)

My main problem with Die a Little is, unfortunately, with Lora herself. I simply didn't find her worthy of being a protagonist. I suppose the fault could lie with Archer's reading, but I don't think that's so in this case. The events and supporting characters around Miss King are, for the most part, intriguing -- especially given the time period -- but they do nothing to make her more interesting. And if falling into bed with a man she's just met doesn't make her interesting, nothing will.