Until she was already writing her first book, the cozy mystery Beauty to Die For (B&H Publishing Group, Aug., 4457), Kim Alexis never realized how much her modeling career had shaped her life. Then her coauthor, Mindy Starns Clark, began to ask, “ ‘What would you do?’ and ‘How would you think?’ and ‘How would you react?’ [in various situations in the modeling industry],” says Alexis. Through this questioning, Alexis realized that her attitudes and thought processes had been molded by her experience. “It changed how I felt about myself and how I felt about beauty and the business, and it’s interesting to have all that come out and to watch Clark develop that into a character.”
Juliette Taylor, the main character in Beauty to Die For, is a result of this questioning and collaboration. But while Juliette may reflect some of Alexis’s internal struggles as a model, her external challenges—like solving crimes—are a bit different. Juliette leaves the stress of a modeling career to run a beauty supply company. As her 50th birthday approaches, Juliette’s past resurfaces in the form of a mysterious and unpopular modeling colleague, who ends up dead.
Readers can meet Alexis and ask her their own questions during a ticketed signing today, 11 a.m.–noon, at Table 2 in the autographing area.
“I want readers to be able to curl up with the book and enjoy getting a glimpse into my business,” Alexis says. In the book, Taylor reaches a breaking point that Alexis says resonates with her own experience. “Many young models are voiceless; they’re not thought of as human beings and just treated as objects to move around.”
