A Starlet's Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Starlet's Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper Aaren Tucker Kulper, Kendall A Starlet's Secret to a Sensational Afterlife. Holiday House, 2023 [352p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780823453610 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780823455331 $11.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 Henrietta Newhouse departs Chicago to pursue her big Hollywood dreams after winning a contest for a one-way train ticket and a screen test, only to discover upon arrival that she's been scammed. Forced to make it on her own, Henny succeeds in part thanks to a chance meeting with up-and-coming starlet Midge, which leads to a real screen test with Silver Wing Studios. Her on-screen partner? Declan Collins. Declan has made a name for himself as the unbreakable stunt man who will take the dangerous jobs others won't. He has no interest in being a star, but he agrees to the screen test, hoping to find out more about several missing starlets that are connected to Silver Wing. Henny and Declan dislike each other immediately, but their sizzling chemistry is a hit, prompting the studio to pair them up as a fake couple. Pretending to date Declan is all part of the job to Henny until her new friend Midge visits her—disturbingly, as a ghost. Henny might have a target on her back, and Declan could turn out to be the only person in this rotten town she can trust. Kulper's follow-up to Murder for the Modern Girl (BCCB 5/22) delivers the same gritty world-building and appropriately antiquated first-person narration to transport readers to 1930s Hollywood. Henny is the sister of Murder for the Modern Girl's Ruby, but this novel stands completely on its own; Henny follows in Ruby's footsteps as another confident, savvy heroine in a glamorous dress navigating a world full of powerful, Weinstein-esque men chewing up hopeful young women and spitting them out. Henny and Declan's sharp, funny banter and earnest chemistry provide the heart and spine throughout the gruesome mysteries and supernatural thrills of another superb novel from Kulper. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois