Hot Girl Murder Girl

By: Ashley Winstead

Narrator: TBA

Macmillan Audio

ISBN: 9781250401212

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Minotaur Books

Publication Date: 07/14/2026

Format: Other

My Rating: TBR (ARC)

JUL 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

From national bestselling author Ashley Winstead comes a buzzy, bloody new thriller about success, sisterhood, and demanding justice…by any means necessary.

What’s a girl got to do to get some fame, a few million record sales, and justice for murder?

Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across L.A., all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build—including the justice she wants for Georgia—will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty.

Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over in Hollywood—an old reign of terror that, if brought to light, could be the fuel that ignites a reckoning the world over.

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Praise

"Prepare to meet your next summer binge read: Ashley Winstead’s Hot Girl Murder Club is literally one of the most addictive, juiciest thrillers I’ve ever read! I couldn’t get enough of Winstead’s evocative backdrop of glittering yet menacing Hollywood and her sharply-drawn, unforgettable protagonist Scout with her collection of stiletto-clad hot girls consumed with ambition. NOBODY does explosive female relationships and power dynamics quite like Winstead and I’m calling it now: Hot Girl Murder Club will be the book of summer!”

―May Cobb, bestselling author of The Hunting Wives

"Hot Girl Murder Club is the must-read thriller of the year. Ashley Winstead delivers a glittery, pulse-pounding, and at times, heartbreaking, story about sisterhood and justice and the price of revenge. Vengeance never looked so hot."

―Alex Finlay, bestselling author of Parents Weekend

"If scrolling through the news makes you want to throw your phone across the room, this book is the cathartic fantasy you’ve been waiting for. Hot Girl Murder Club looks, at first glance, like a straight-up revenge story―women finally getting delicious payback from the men who hurt them. But Ashley Winstead is doing something sharper here, using rage, wit, and jaw-dropping twists to capture the exhaustion of living in this moment. Blisteringly fun and bracingly astute, Hot Girl Murder Club is escapism with a bite."

―Stephanie Wrobel, internationally bestselling author of The Hitchcock Hotel

"Hot Girl Murder Club features Ashley Winstead at her absolute finest, firing on all her signature thriller cylinders and wielding the pen like a proper Raymond Chandler in the time of the Kardashians. With her foot firmly on the gas from beginning to end, top down in Tinseltown, readers will be left gasping at the seemingly endless twists and turns, like a night ride down Mulholland after the afterparty. As glamorous as it is gritty, Winstead's latest is a white-hot barnburner of a novel so ferociously feminist, you'll finish the last page ready to light the match yourself!"

―USA Today bestselling author Rachel Koller Croft

"A dark exploration of girl power in glittering Hollywood from seeking justice at any cost to how violence can bring us to our knees. Equal parts page-turning thriller and fascinating character study with incredible investigative threads Ashley Winstead pulls so expertly that readers will not be able to put this book down or guess what happens next."

―Vanessa Lillie, author of USA Today bestseller, The Bone Thief

"This is the Ashley Winstead thriller you’ve been waiting for―dark, atmospheric, timely, and tense...An ode to the families we’re born into―and the ones we build from the ashes, Hot Girl Murder Club is a pulse-pounding investigation into stardom, sisterhood, and the wildfire of female rage."

―Lauren Nossett, award-winning author of The Resemblance

About the Author

ASHLEY WINSTEAD is the national bestselling author of many beloved thrillers, including This Book Will Bury Me, The Last Housewife, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, and Midnight Is the Darkest Hour. In addition to being an acclaimed thriller writer, Ashley is also the author of two romantic comedies, Fool Me Once and The Boyfriend Candidate, with more on the way. Her novels have been optioned for television; chosen as Book of the Month, Best of Amazon, LibraryReads, Indie Next, Apple Books, and Lone Star picks; and received attention from major outlets, from The New York Times to The Washington Post. WEBSITE