Girl about Town
A Lulu Kelly Mystery
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Cinematic pacing, a compelling whodunit, and the glitzy aura of golden age Hollywood combine in this star-studded novel” (Booklist) from acclaimed film producer/director Adam Shankman and coauthor Laura Sullivan.
Not too long ago, Lucille O’Malley was living in a tenement in New York. Now she’s Lulu Kelly, Hollywood’s newest It Girl. She may be a star, but she worries that her past will catch up with her. Back in New York she witnessed a Mafia murder, and this glamorous new life in Tinseltown is payment for her silence.
Dashing Freddie van der Waals, the only son of a New York tycoon, was a playboy with the world at his feet. But when he discovered how his corrupt father really made the family fortune, Freddie abandoned his billions and became a vagabond. He travels the country in search of redemption and a new identity, but his father will stop at nothing to bring him home.
When fate brings Lulu and Freddie together, sparks fly—and gunshots follow. Suddenly Lulu finds herself framed for attempted murder. Together, she and Freddie set out to clear her name. But can they escape their pasts and finally find the Hollywood ending they long for?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shankman, a film producer, teams up with Sullivan (Love by the Morning Star) for a Depression-era rags-to riches/riches-to-rags story. Lucille O'Malley, 16, lives a mean existence in a Lower East Side tenement until an encounter with a mobster changes her fortunes: she saves him from a murder charge, and he pays her way to Hollywood. Simultaneously, Frederick van der Waals, 17, learns the depth of his billionaire father's depravity and rejects Harvard for life as a hobo, hopping trains until he lands in Los Angeles, where Lucille newly minted as "Lulu Kelly" discovers him in a bread line while searching for a realistic-looking bum for a movie scene. Splitting the narrative between two main characters doesn't allow readers to learn much about the maturation of either of them, but all the touchstones of Old Hollywood are here the scheming gossip columnist, the celluloid stars with devastating secrets, A-list parties at Pickfair and the co-authors keep the pace going strong, especially once the story pivots into a whodunit involving a rival starlet. Ages 14 up.