Trashed

Edgar Award finalist Alison Gaylin, who brought readers “something completely different” (Chicago Tribune) with Hide Your Eyes and You Kill Me, presents a brand-new novel of suspense set against the surreal backdrop of contemporary Hollywood—where a trashing in the tabloids can make you or break you, and dirty little secrets are the lifeblood of the media machine.    Working for an infamous scandal sheet, Simone Glass is learning what they didn’t teach her at Columbia’s journalism school: Always wear gloves when digging through the trash, never give your real name, and, above all, trust no one. . . .    Since nobody will speak to The Asteroid on the record, Simone is forced to go undercover—posing as a cater-waiter at a gala benefit, hiding out in a Dumpster in hopes of hearing incriminating conversation, even sneaking onto the set of the hot new TV series Suburban Indiscretions.    When a soap opera star commits suicide, and her emotionally unstable assistant insists someone killed her, Simone sets out to uncover the real, untold story.  But before she can put the pieces together, a stripper with sordid celebrity connections is found drenched in her own blood . . . and even Simone’s most reliable sources begin acting paranoid.  Suddenly a savage killer is ripping Tinseltown apart and handing Simone her most lethal leads ever.  Can she expose the murderer before it’s too late—or will she become just the latest casualty of Hollywood’s brutal deceptions?