Saskia Thompson is the hottest editor in the world. Her magazine StreetSmart is an explosive mix of celebrity gossip, high fashion, cutting-edge photography and investigative journalism. She is the undisputed queen of London and New York. And then she is found dead. Max, her war-reporter brother, has always avoided her glitzy world, but reluctantly he is sucked into the magazine business when Saskia leaves him StreetSmart in her will. But the vultures are gathering, just waiting for Max to fail--and he soon learns that the magazine world is deadlier than a war zone.
From Kirkus Reviews
The tony world of high-gloss international fashion magazines is the setting for this wonderfully trashy if slogging thriller by Condé Nast UK director Coleridge (With Friends Like These, 1997, etc.).When Saskia Thompson, editor and publisher of the hot, hip lifestyle magazine StreetSmart, is found dead in her posh New York apartment, few believe she's committed suicide. It's up to her brother, Max, an erstwhile photojournalist who scarcely knew her, to sort things out and keep the magazine afloat. Though Max would be more comfortable dodging bullets in Rwanda or Chechnya, he soon learns that the world of international publishing is not all that dissimilar. He quickly makes allies (Kitty Marr, the beautiful and sexy fashion assistant who was with Saskia the night she died; Philip Landau, Saskia's polished attorney) and enemies (the conniving deputy editor at the London office, Bob Troup, whom Max summarily dismisses; and Racinda Blick, the fashion editor who throws a hissy fit over her poor seating at the Milan show). Saskia was murdered, of course, and it could been have one of her “boy toys.” In addition to all the hunks she dated for the tabloids, such as Kiefer Sutherland and Leonardo DiCaprio, Saskia made frequent use of the escort services, not to mention her employees. Max can’t figure out if she was murdered by the mysterious, unknown father of her neglected son, Cody, or by one of her many jealous rivals who are now trying to buy StreetSmart. His chief suspect is Freddie Saidi, an oily, cruel former arms-dealer who also had a thing for the deceased. Etienne Bercuse, head of an international luxury goods empire, is another possibility. Could these competitors also be behind the attempts to sabotage StreetSmart’s latest issue, the one with the exclusive cover photo of Madonna and her new beau?
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