The Hurricane Blonde
A former child starlet is plunged back into the dangerous glitter of Hollywood
after discovering the body of a young actress.
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The Hurricane Blonde
Salma Lowe, progeny of Hollywood royalty and a once-promising child actor, now spends her days as a guide for the Stars Six Feet Under tour, leading tourists through Los Angeles’s star-studded avenues to haunting sites where actresses of the past met untimely ends. Salma knows better than anyone that a tragic death is the surest path to stardom. Her sister, Tawney, viciously dubbed the “Hurricane Blonde,” was murdered in the nineties, the case never solved and, to Salma’s ire, indefinitely closed . . . until she stumbles upon a dead body mid-tour, on the property where her sister once lived, at the precise scene of her sister’s demise. Even more uncanny: the deceased woman also looks like Tawney.
The police are convinced this woman’s death was an accident—but Salma is haunted by the investigation’s echoes of her own past. What if this woman’s murder points to Tawney’s killer? Desperate to track down the culprit once and for all, Salma launches her own investigation, plunging back into the salacious but seductive world of Hollywood. And what she’ll find is that old secrets may just be worth killing for.
Praise
“Enthralling . . . Sutton indicts our culture for its fixation on beautiful young women who died at the hands of others.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Is a tragic death the only way to cement one’s legacy in Hollywood? Halley Sutton delivers a twisty rumination of this question.” —PopSugar
“The dark side of Hollywood is exposed alongside the glitz and glamour in Sutton’s second novel. . . . Filled with twists and turns . . . Perfect for book clubs and all public library shelves where thrillers are popular (and where aren’t they?).” —Library Journal
“Sutton’s gritty sophomore effort…immerses readers in the underbelly of Hollywood.…[The] atmosphere, plus intriguing true Hollywood lore about Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate, and other stars who’ve died tragically, keeps the pages turning. This is an acid-washed treat for fans of L.A. noir.” —Publishers Weekly
“Sexy, twisted and dark, The Hurricane Blonde is both a gripping thriller and a scathing indictment of the industry of celebrity. Halley Sutton nails modern Hollywood Noir.” —Janelle Brown, author of I’ll Be You
“The Hurricane Blonde is a stunning achievement. Sutton has managed to create a murder mystery that feels as magnetic, timeless, and inextricable from Hollywood legend as the Black Dahlia. And yet Hurricane is more than simply a tragedy about a beautiful woman on the silver screen who met a grisly end—it’s also, profoundly, a book about ruinous grief and letting go of the myths that have harmed us, as individuals and as a culture, no matter how glittering those myths may be. There’s no one better at writing the dark side of Hollywood than Halley Sutton.”
—Ashley Winstead, author of The Last Housewife
“The Hurricane Blonde is a vivid, chilling noir steeped in L.A. sunshine and Hollywood lore. Sutton gives us a backstage pass to a former child actor’s investigation of her sister’s death—revealing a world that is both ruthlessly cruel and dazzlingly irresistible.” —Sara Sligar, author of Take Me Apart
“The Hurricane Blonde is the biting, brilliant nepo baby noir you didn’t know you needed. Halley Sutton’s sophomore thriller reads like a riveting true-crime tour with your smartest, most macabre friend, rendered with such evocative detail that you’ll feel California sun on your face and feminist rage in your heart with every turn of the page.” —Layne Fargo, author of They Never Learn
“The Hurricane Blonde is a splashy thrill ride through the dark side of Hollywood. Sutton has delivered a glitzy noir and a gripping crime story. Empowering, engaging, and a worthy addition to the Los Angeles canon.” —Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women and Sing Her Down
“If Hollywood Babylon had a hook, it would be The Hurricane Blonde. Peopled with all the heroes and villains you think you know, this engrossing thriller captures LA in all her guises and packs a chilling message about the inherent victimhood of female stardom.” —Eliza Jane Brazier, author of Girls and Their Horses
“Sutton’s incisive writing captures both the allure and dark side of LA. A must-read for anyone drawn to Hollywood true crime.” —Vera Kurian, author of Never Saw Me Coming
About Halley Sutton
Halley Sutton is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. She graduated from Otis College of Art and Design with a master’s degree in writing, and from University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in creative writing. Her first novel, The Lady Upstairs, was published by Putnam in 2020, and was nominated for a Lefty award. Her second novel, The Hurricane Blonde, was published by Putnam in August 2023. Her writing has appeared in Ms., The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Review of Books, CrimeReads, CrimeSpree Magazine, and more.