Thank you to my agent, Barbara Poelle, for responding with ALL-CAPS ENTHUSIASM when I pitched the idea of a YA murder mystery set in Old Hollywood. Thank you to my editor, Ali Fisher, for your spot-on insights and expertise in shepherding my story through the publication process. Thank you to the entire team at Tor Teen for turning my words into a book, especially Lesley Worrell for such a sensational cover. Thanks also to Amy Stapp for that initial “Yes, please!” when I first started writing Chasing Starlight.
My heart overflows with love and gratitude for my talented wordsmithing friends: Jen White, Tiffany Odekirk, Brittany Larsen, Melanie Jacobson, and Aubrey Hartman. We meet once a week for friendship, good eats, and critiquing, in that order. They nudged this story in the right direction countless times. I don’t know how anyone writes a book without them.
Love and appreciation for my supportive husband, Mark; our four remarkable children, who make parenting look easy; and wonderful Sabrina and Rosie.
I’m so grateful for Turner Classic Movies. I set out to watch a few old films to learn about moviemaking in the 1930s and quickly became an avid (obsessive) fan, my TV airing a nonstop stream of black-and-white singing, dancing, and snappy dialogue. Special thanks to the TCM hosts who’ve taught and entertained me so well: Ben Mankiewicz, Alicia Malone, Dave Karger, Eddie Muller, and Jacqueline Stewart. Your work is important. I especially loved learning about the role of women in moviemaking in Alicia Malone’s book Backwards and in Heels, which helped form my main character, Kate, and the ever-fabulous Stella Nixon.
I won’t try to list all the movies I treasure from this era, but do yourself a favor and watch Stage Door, The Big Sleep, The More the Merrier, To Have and Have Not, You Can’t Take It with You, and His Girl Friday. Amazing dialogue in all of them. If you want to see the inspiration for Aurelio and Bonnie’s dance audition, go online and watch Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in a short video called Dance Class Swing Time 1936. I’ve watched it a hundred times and still need more.
I’ll add a warning: Vintage films are often sexist and racist. In a strange way, it’s so blatant, it actually showcases how ignorant and abhorrent those attitudes are. One example from the pre-Code era of 1933 is a movie called She Had to Say Yes, which shows the standard practice of sexual harassment of working women during the Great Depression. It made my blood boil. Old movies are history lessons as well as entertainment, and sometimes that history shows its ugly side.
As I wrote this book, I often thought of my grandfather James Anderson, who was grateful to get a job as a propmaker at the MGM movie studio during the Great Depression and ended up staying thirty years. He always worked the graveyard shift, and then spent his days studying advanced mathematics for fun—a brilliant, deep-thinking man who never had a chance to attend college. His craftsmanship was part of the magic at MGM and gives me a personal connection to the Golden Age of Hollywood.