"They watch her when she comes to City Hall, they watch her at social events, they watch the way she walks, hips rolling with no suggestion of provocation but with every sense that she knows more than any of the rest. - - - Their wives come from Orange County, they come from Minnesota or Dallas or St. Louis. - - - They have sisters, sisters with more babies, babies with sweet saliva hanging and more appliances and with husbands with better salaries and two cars and club membership. They iron in housedresses in front of the television set or by the radio, steam rising, matting their faces, as the children with the damp necks cling to them, sticky-handed. They are this. And Alice..."

I've had a feeling about Megan Abbott's books for a while, even before I read any. It was when I read her short Bibliomystery story The Little Men that I knew we'd get along just fine.

Die a Little is just as good as any 40s or 50s noir: a school teacher's brother gets married, and it's evident that the new wife, working in Hollywood as a wardrobe assistant, doesn't fit the suburban lifestyle. She does her best by organizing parties with delicious treats and colorful tiki lights, but her energy has a feverish quality. Soon worlds will collide and the conventional-minded protagonist is in danger to be tainted by the seedy side of LA.

Not only is this a fantastic debut novel, but being focused on the women of the story, it's also a nice change for me after spending so many years focused on Jim Thompson, Raymond Chandler etc. Maybe this will be my gateway to Vera Caspary and her contemporaries.