History Literature / BrideOfTheRatGod

* OperaGloves: Christine wears a white pair on the cover.

** BadassDamsel: That doesn't stop her from doing her best to fight back and struggle to survive.

* DreamingOfTimesGoneBy: Norah has a dream in which she sees the last occasion on which the necklace was deliberately used to dedicate a human sacrifice.

* MarriedAtSea: [[spoiler:Norah and Alec have a boat captain marry them at the end.]]

* CostumePorn

* FluffyFashionFeathers: An actress wears a dress with marabou straps.

* GrandTheftMe: The Rat God can take over some people.

* MarriedAtSea: [[spoiler:Norah and Alec at the end.]]

* PrettyInMink: Christine has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. She gives Norah the latter, and Norah gets to wear Christine's chinchilla a few times (although the first time it's offered she turns it down). Christine also wears a fur wrap on the cover of the book.

* HowDoYouLikeThemApples: The forbidden fruit from the garden of Eden makes a symbolic appearance in the seduction scene in ''She-Devil of Babylon''; this prompts a discussion among the crew about what kind of fruit it actually was. The director insists on a pomegranate, causing a whole bunch of problems that wouldn't have happened if he'd been willing to settle for an apple.

* TheRoaringTwenties: And Christine seems to just want to party when she isn't working.

* UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood

The exotic Chrysanda Flamande (actually Christine Flint from Philadelphia) is a rising star in the SilentAgeOfHollywood. Her rich producer boyfriend Frank just gave her a beautiful old Chinese necklace, her down-to-earth sister-in-law Norah keeps her within shouting distance of the straight and narrow, TheRoaringTwenties are roaring and life is good.

* SilentAgeOfHollywood

* BadassDamsel:
** Christine is ''incredibly'' brave, considering the circumstances, and claws out the eye of a guy trying to kill her at one point.
** Norah also qualifies; it takes a lot to [[spoiler:''willingly'' put on the ArtifactOfDoom to draw the attention of the Rat God]].

* SilverHasMysticPowers: And the use of silver in film production turns out to be significant.

** BadassDamsel: And yet is ''incredibly'' brave, considering the circumstances, and ''claws out the eye of a guy trying to kill her at one point.'' Norah also qualifies; it take a lot [[spoiler: to ''willingly'' put on the resident ArtifactOfDoom to draw the attention of the Rat God]]

* PrettyInMink: Christine has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. She gives Norah the latter, and Norah gets to wear Christin's chinchilla few times (although the first time it's offered she turns it down).
** Christine also wears a fur wrap on the cover of the book.

* UnexplainedRecovery (or possibly YouLookFamiliar): Logistical restrictions result in one of the generals in Queen Vashti's army during the climactic battle of ''She-Devil of Babylon'' being played by the same actor as the underling she poisoned in an earlier scene.

* LetsGetDangerous: Christine's [[spoiler:dogs turn into supernaturally strong dogs at the end to protect Christine from the Rat God]].

* ArtifactOfDeath: The Moon of Rats necklace was used in olden times to dedicate human sacrifices to the Rat God; any woman who wears it in circumstances resembling those of the original ritual will be dead within a month.

* PrettyInMink: Christine has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. She gives Norah the latter.

* PrettyInMink: Christine has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. She gives Norah the latter, and Norah gets to wear Christin's chinchilla few times (which she actually is glad for when the nights get cold).

* HistoricalInJoke: [[spoiler:The final battle against the Rat God]] is written as the cause of the Pickering/Lick Pier fire.

* PrettyInMink: Christine has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. Norah gets a few of Christine's hand-me-downs, which she mostly regards as too impractical to actually wear.

* PrettyInMink: Christine, on numerous occasions. Norah gets a few of Christine's hand-me-downs, which she mostly regards as too impractical to actually wear.

Then her body double from her latest movie is horribly murdered, in circumstances implicating one of the studio's other stars. While the studio's spin machine springs into action, Norah gradually discovers that the murderer wasn't human -- and that Christine is also in danger. It's up to Norah and a small group of allies to keep Christine safe, with Christine herself providing occasional and dubious assistance. All while dealing with the everyday havoc of a Hollywood film production.

* BadBoss: Queen Vashti, the FemmeFatale Christine is playing in her latest movie. In one scene, she poisons a random servant just to make a point in her conversation.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When the director of the Biblical epic Christine is working on starts ranting about the Philistines sabotaging his high art, her response is to ask "Are there Philistines in this movie? I though they were Persians", and then to go in search of a script to make sure.

* PrimaDonnaDirector: Miklos Hraldy, who obsesses about symbolism, complains about the studio cutting his six-hour epic of human drama down to a length audiences will actually consider watching, and dreams of making the definitive film version of Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis''.

* UnexplainedRecovery (or possibly YouLookFamiliar): In the movie Christine's working on, logistical restrictions result in one of the generals in Queen Vashti's army during the climactic battle being played by the same actor as the underling she poisoned in an earlier scene.

''Bride of the Rat God'' is a HistoricalFantasy novel by Creator/BarbaraHambly, in which an actress in 1920s Hollywood becomes the unwitting target of an ancient Chinese curse.