Who would leave a highly respected, hard-won position as an investigative journalist at one of London’s top newspapers for a job at a fashion rag? That’s the question on everyone’s mind when Annie Anderson announces she’s making the move. True, the last few months have been tough on Annie, who remains haunted by memories of an undercover sting gone wrong that left an innocent woman dead. But a glossy magazine? It just doesn’t seem very Annie. Her colleagues assume she’s lost it, but Annie has her secret reasons.

After a few days at Handbag, Annie realizes that being a fashion editor is going to be much harder than she ever anticipated. Thrown into the heart of New York Fashion Week, she is unprepared for her new world’s bewildering hierarchy–though she’s becoming increasingly familiar with “that fashion feeling” she gets when facing constant comparisons to the über-thin, ultra-glam women around her. It would be easier working in a war zone than getting the right seat at the Marc Jacobs show.

But if there’s one thing Annie knows, it’s interviewing. So when she scores an exclusive with the hot up-and-coming designer Mark Mailer, she’s back on familiar ground. The gossip du jour has Mark and his supermodel girlfriend Patty Lang on the outs after Patty’s disastrous and very public return to her first love: heroin. Annie senses there’s much more to the story, but before she can coax Mark to open up, he’s dead–shot before Annie’s eyes in what appears to be attempted robbery.

Though shaken, Annie believes that Mark’s death was anything but random, and a grief-stricken Patty agrees. From New York to London to Milan, while taking on a tyrannical boss, slick-as-oil PR execs, and egomaniacal designers with the depth of a linen blouse, Annie searches for answers. But in the pursuit of a good story, Annie must not lose sight of her common sense–or the consequences could make her the next fashion victim.

"The editor in chief of Cosmopolitan UK follows Cosmo (U.S.) editor Kate White's lead by penning a mystery with a reporter in the starring role — but the narrative in Baker's busy whodunit has as much to do with what everyone's wearing as it does with what they're doing. Annie Anderson is a serious reporter going undercover at a fashion magazine. Or she's a burned-out investigative journalist taking refuge in a lighter job. Or, wait, she's an amateur detective with a heart of gold. At times it's hard to tell where Baker's going with her main character, who's the expected chick-lit combination of perky and put-upon, but the ride is fun. In New York to see the fashion shows and interview golden boy designer Mark Mailer, Annie quickly stumbles into a nightclub robbery that ends in Mailer's death. Was it just a robbery gone bad, or was Mailer targeted — and is his wife, ex-junkie and model Patty Lang, next? Annie's the only person Patty will trust with her story, and soon the reporter's knee deep in a chic world with a very seedy underbelly. If Baker's Americans seem to use the same Briticisms Annie does, and if general suspension of disbelief gets slightly strained by such a fashion-conscious mystery, well, those looking for a killer and a happy ending probably won't mind. Agent, Emma Parry. (On sale May 31)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Advance praise for Fashion Victim

“A fun, pacy, and addictive read.”

–Anna Maxted, author of Getting Over It

“Sam Baker’s novel will give readers an exclusive look into the glamorous world of fashion magazines–and keep them on the edge of their (front-row) seats.”

–Kate White, author of If Looks Could Kill

“Very funny, great escapism, and offering a genuinely fascinating insight into the world of fashion, but with murders thrown in to make it exciting. I really loved it!”

–Emily Barr, author of Backpack and Cuban Heels

When an up-and-coming designer is killed and the cause listed as accidental, Annie Anderson, an investigative journalist-turned-style magazine-guru, plunges into the shadowy underworld of fashion in search of the killer.

SAM BAKER has been a writer and editor for numerous British women’s magazines, including Red, New Woman, Chat, and Take a Break. After successfully relaunching the seminal teenage magazine Just Seventeen as J-17, she became editor of the British young women’s magazine Company. Now editor in chief of Cosmopolitan in the UK, she is a regular broadcaster on young women’s issues. Although Sam has spent the past six years on the twice-yearly merry-go-round that is the seasonal ready-to-wear shows, she confesses she still hasn’t learned to kick that “fashion feeling.” Sam lives between Winchester, Hampshire, and London with her partner, the author Jon Courtenay Grimwood.