"A smart, satirical take on fashion and media that will have readers snorting with laughter."—The New York Post
"A whodunnit with a Devil Wears Prada twist...If you love UnReal, then this smart, sassy novel will be right up your alley."—Refinery29
"Sex. Drugs. Dries van Noten. I'll Eat When I'm Deadskewers Tribe Fashion with wit and wicked intelligence. From Finnish toast-only restaurants to kobe-beef hide bikinis and grandiose faux feminism, Barbara Bourland makes you laugh out loud, and keep turning the page. A deft, smart, and hilarious debut."—Wednesday Martin, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Primates of Park Avenue
"A highly polished satire... Hilarious."—Sunday Times
"Let me tell you, contrary to you might have heard, books about fashion can be both smart and funny. Barbara Bourland's snarky debut novel manages to tackle the politics of fashion magazines, the pitfalls and pratfalls being a social media influencer, and the true dangers of the pressures put on women for their appearances and the very real threats to their mental and physical health. And yet Bourland walks the line between serious and comedy so deftly that anyone who has read a women's magazine or caught an episode of America's Next Top Model will understand the jokes and the lessons without conflict."—Fortune
"A murder investigation hijacked by a hotheaded fashion magazine editor and her posse of party girls, narcissists, and socialites--what could go wrong?... Bourland turns a sharp eye to the politics of women's bodies and work environments in this compulsively readable mystery."—Read it Forward
"I'll Eat When I'm Dead combines sharp satire of the beauty-and-fashion industry with a twisty mystery."—Tampa Bay Times
"One part deliciously satirical send-up, one part murder mystery, I'll Eat When I'm Dead had me laughing out loud. This bold and wildly entertaining, in-your-face novel signals the arrival of Barbara Bourland as an exciting and savvy new voice."—Sara Blaedel, #1 international bestselling author of The Forgotten Girls
"I can't put I'll Eat When I'm Dead down, I LOVE it. Biting, funny, and brilliantly subversive; Bourland's debut is like The Devil Wears Prada meets American Psycho."—Louise O'Neill, author of Only Ever Yours and Asking For It
"Bourland's delightfully snarky debut leans heavily on satire, poking razor-sharp fun at the beauty industry and the cut-throat world that Bess and Cat inhabit, and some scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. However, for all the outrageous (and eye-opening) focus on makeup, beauty, fashion, and of course, the desire to be thin, there are tantalizing glimpses of the vulnerability and insecurities beneath the surface. Death by beauty was never so much fun."—Kirkus
"Delightfully, playfully skewering the fashion and beauty industries, this is like The Devil Wears Prada with more feminism, plus murder."—Booklist
"Barbara Bourland deftly tackles body-image issues with wit in this mystery."—US Weekly
"A reckless adventure in the world of starry-eyed models, dubiously sourced drugs, anorexia, and Instagram. But don't let the frills and flashbulbs fool you. Barbara Bourland is here to show you that fashion is a deadly serious business."—Mikita Brottman, author of The Maximum Security Book Club
A smart feminist fashion manifesto packed with pulpy, sexy, murderous intrigue. Highly entertaining!—Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed
"A compulsively readable, satirical romp with a sharp and vicious twist, I'll Eat When I'm Dead is a timely, smart, and perceptive mystery,"—K.J Howe, author of The Freedom Broker
"Funny, fierce, feminist."—Sarra Manning, Red (UK)
"I'll Eat When I'm Dead had me hooked with its biting satire of the fashion world's dark underbelly. And what a heroine! Anyone who has opened up a woman's magazine and despaired at the content should read this book."—Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, Co-Editor of The Vagenda
"Readers will devour this mystery by Bourland. What at first seems a death by natural causes turns into a murder that will have you guessing at whodunit up until the very end. . . A fun, witty, edge-of-your-seat ride through the demanding and sometimes dangerous world of fashion.—RT Book Reviews
"Thoroughly modern... stylish. Bourland narrates at a quick New York City tempo, detailing perks, personal connections, and property values, both satirizing and celebrating fashion and feminism."—Publisher's Weekly
"The darker side of perfection is cast under the spotlight [in this] black comedy."—Sunday Mirror
2017-03-07
When the beautiful Hillary Whitney is found dead, her co-workers smell a rat, but hunting for clues in stilettos isn't all it's cracked up to be.Hillary is found dead—of starvation, no less—in a locked workroom of the New York City fashion mag RAGE Fashion Book, and her co-workers are shocked, especially her close friend and RAGE's senior editor, Catherine "Cat" Ono. While her death isn't officially labeled murder, Detective Mark Hutton wants to dig deeper, smelling a career maker, and enlists Cat's help. Sparks fly between the two but quickly cool after a sting goes south, with Cat as bait. If Cat and her friend Bess Bonner, the magazine's associate editor, thought they'd seen enough death, they'd be wrong. After the fallout from the sting, Cat and Bess, in an attempt at damage control, are remade as the glam faces of RAGE, and the endless photo shoots, appearances, and dresses so tight they have to be sewn on are only relieved by alcohol and drugs, of which there are plenty. Hutton becomes increasingly alarmed by their behavior, and it looks like a RAGE employee has her own agenda and will kill to achieve it. Bourland's delightfully snarky (with names such as Whig Beaton Molton-Mauve Lucas) debut leans heavily on satire, poking razor-sharp fun at the beauty industry and the cutthroat world that Bess and Cat inhabit, and some scenes are laugh-out-loud funny: keep an eye out for the makeover Cat and Bess give two female police officers for an undercover job. However, for all the outrageous (and eye-opening) focus on makeup, beauty, fashion, and, of course, the desire to be thin, there are tantalizing glimpses of the vulnerability and insecurities beneath the surface, especially with Cat, who longs for her home in Brussels, the smell of her mother's horses, and freedom from the constraints that are put on women in the name of beauty. Death by beauty was never so much fun.
