Talking fashion and bloodsuckers is all in a day’s work for wide-eyed intern Kate McAlliston in Stivers’s sharp debut. When Kate takes a summer job working for Tasty
, the “hottest young women’s magazine in America,” she discovers “blood-spattered” is not only a trend but the style favored by a nest of chic Manhattan vamps in stilettos. Lillian Hall is the elegant but oh-so-scary editor-in-chief of Tasty
, headquartered in “The Dark Tower” of Oldham Inc., a media empire much like Condé Nast, one of the author’s old employers. As Kate helps organize the Tasty Girl modeling contest and choose the finalists, the blood-drained bodies start to pile up, including a freelancer’s poor little Chihuahua. Stivers’s sly satire capitalizes on the lingering allure of The Devil Wears Prada
, the bubbly appeal of Ugly Betty
, the campy joy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
and the drop-dead glamour of Fashion Week
. (Sept.)
