Little Pretty Things

OLD RIVALRIES NEVER DIE. BUT SOME RIVALS DO.

Juliet Townsend works a dead-end job cleaning rooms at the Midnight Inn, a one-star hotel that attracts only the cheap or the desperate. Embittered by her bleak life, she takes to stealing small possessions from customers’ rooms. At home she hoards a secret collection of these “little pretty things.” 

When a former friend and old high school rival, Madeleine Bell, checks into the hotel, Juliet adds envy to her bitterness. Well-dressed, flashing a diamond ring on her finger, and as beautiful as ever, Maddy is the very embodiment of Juliet’s every dashed hope. But why would she choose to stay in the seedy Midnight Inn?

Before an answer to that question turns up, the next morning Juliet learns that Maddy has been found dead in her room. And the police have targeted Juliet as the chief suspect. 

To protect herself, Juliet is forced to investigate the circumstances of Maddy’s life and death. What she uncovers is that her onetime rival certainly never had it all. And Juliet may lose what little she has.

Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner
OLD RIVALRIES NEVER DIE. BUT SOME RIVALS DO.
Juliet Townsend is used to losing. Back in high school, she lost every track team race to her best friend, Madeleine Bell. Ten years later, she s still running behind, stuck in a dead-end job cleaning rooms at the Mid-Night Inn, a one-star motel that attracts only the cheap or the desperate. But what life won t provide, Juliet takes.
Then one night, Maddy checks in. Well-dressed, flashing a huge diamond ring, and as beautiful as ever, Maddy has it all. By the next morning, though, Juliet is no longer jealous of Maddy she s the chief suspect in her murder.
To protect herself, Juliet investigates the circumstances of her friend s death. But what she learns about Maddy s life might cost Juliet everything she didn t realize she had."

Lori Rader-Day is the author of The Black Hour. She has also published fiction in Good Housekeeping, where she won first place in the magazine's first short-story contest; The Madison Review, which awarded her the 2008 Chris O'Malley Prize in Fiction; TimeOut Chicago; Southern Indiana Review; Crab Orchard Review; and other journals and magazines. She lives in Chicago, where she is active in the Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter, Sisters in Crime Chicagoland Chapter, and International Thriller Writers. In addition, she is an instructor for Story Studio Chicago/North Shore, where she teaches mystery writing.