Murder for the Modern Girl is a 2022 Young Adult Historical Fiction drama novel with supernatural elements written by Kendall Kulper.
In Chicago during The Roaring '20s, the independent daughter of a court attorney, Ruby Newhouse, has the peculiar ability of being able to read other people's minds. No one is aware that she has such an ability, let alone that she uses it to hunt down and poison wicked men as a street vigilante, getting nicknamed the "Angel Killer" by the women she protects. Then, she ends up meeting the strange, shape-shifting Guy Rosewood, a morgue employee who's trying to figure out his powers and how to control them.
After Ruby's father nearly gets assassinated, Chicago's mafia boss, Herman Coward, is suspected to be the man behind the Assassination Attempt. However, Ruby believes that Coward got framed for the attempt by a Corrupt Politician seeking to gain power over the city. She gets Guy to help her expose the corruption within Chicago and stop it, but isn't aware that he's investigating her murders. With his talent for forensics, Guy would be able to uncover her vigilante hobby, yet Ruby couldn't help but fall in love with him.
In 2023, a spin-off novel, A Starlets Secret To A Sensational Afterlife, was published, taking place in 1934 and has one of Ruby's younger sisters, Henrietta, as the protagonist.
This novel contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Francis Mather is a heavy drinker who's seen drinking at a speakeasy during New Year's Eve. He fits one of the words, drunk, that Ruby uses to describe no-good men in Chicago. When Francis dies from his drink getting poisoned, Ruby notes that he was likely to die anyway from all of the drinking he does.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Peter Buchanan was bullied and discriminated against by others throughout his childhood due to his shapeshifting abilities. After the death of his father who loved and protected him, Peter runs away, taking on the identity of Guy Rosewood. The torment he received from people is one of the reasons he prefers hiding his abilities and minding his business.
- Almighty Janitor: Guy Rosewood starts out as a janitor working for the Cook County Morgue but due to possessing a talent for forensics, he's able to figure out that Roger Carrell and other corpses he analyzes were actually murdered. Because of this, Dr. Keene, a medical examiner, promotes him into an assistant.
- Assassination Attempt: State attorney Jeremiah Newhouse almost gets assassinated when a pipe bomb detonates near a car as he was targeted for his goals of stopping the corruption in Chicago. He survives the assassination attempt but spends the majority of the novel in a coma.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: The police commissioner, Liam Walsh, and an alderman, Dennis Ferry, are working to get rid of Jeremiah Newhouse who is trying to curb the police corruption, thus Ruby and Guy have to stop them.
- Be Yourself: Guy Rosewood's character arc is based around him being hesitant to accept his true identity as Peter Buchanan due to guilt over getting his father killed and wanting to separate himself from his past. However, due to Ruby Newhouse's encouragement and their mutual love, he slowly but surely accepts his original identity with Ruby even stating that she prefers kissing his true self. At the end of the novel, he stops using his Guy Rosewood form and makes his true identity his Shapeshifter Default Form to show that he has embraced his true self, not wanting to put on any more "masks".
- Blackmail: After getting her drunk and stripping her to take photos of her nude, Rex Blanchot uses the photos to blackmail Maggie Stowe to give him money or he'll expose the photos to her father, her fiance, and every newspaper company.
- Big Brother Instinct: Ruby Newhouse is particularly protective of her younger twin sisters. She taught them how to fire guns, soothe them when they have nightmares, and is determined to keep them safe after their father almost got assassinated. Later on in the story, Ruby's protectiveness gets exploited by Ferry, who kidnaps one of the twins, Henrietta, predicting that Ruby will go rescue her. He's correct as Ruby heads to the Bull and Owl bar to save Henrietta.
- The Big Damn Kiss: In chapter 36, right after the climax, Ruby gives a motivating speech to Peter about how he deserves more than spending his life running and hiding, that she's willing to take a risk to give him the life he deserves and that he saved her own life, so she's going to save his in return. She then kisses Peter in his true form for the first time and tells him that's the only form she'll be kissing, cementing their relationship and Peter's Character Development.
- But Liquor Is Quicker: At a hotel party, Rex Blanchot gets Maggie Stowe drunk, brings her to his hotel room, strips her naked and takes pictures of her in the nude without her consent.
- Convenient Photograph: After Ruby kills Rex Blanchot in self-defense, a photo of her in Rex's room is found in Rex's camera, which will expose her as the Angel Killer. The camera ends up at the morgue, and Peter has the photo on hand but doesn't turn it in as he doesn't want to see Ruby executed. However, Albert has his own copy of the photo and planned to send it to newspaper editors to imprison Ruby but is thwarted by Peter.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Guy Rosewood/Peter Buchanan's mother died giving birth to him and while he had a loving father, he was bullied and discriminated by others due to his shapeshifting abilities. During one incident, his father tells him to hide as he goes to defend Peter from the people harassing him. But Peter goes outside, ends up in a confrontation with some boys, and loses control over his shapeshifting abilities, leading to him fleeing and getting his foot stuck in a train track. Peter's father pushes him out of the way so he can get hit by the incoming train in his place. Peter ends up blaming himself for his father's death and takes on the identity of Guy Rosewood to separate himself from his past.
- Death by Childbirth: Guy Rosewood's mother died giving birth to him.
- Death by Irony: Francis Mather, who has been planning to poison his wife's drink, gets his own drink poisoned by Ruby Newhouse and dies.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Even with independent, bold Flappers running around, women in 1928 Chicago don't have it easy. They're often targeted by heinous men who abuse them, and it's stated that women aren't able to get justice from the legal system as it's all run by men who won't believe them. When one woman is interrogated about a series of murders committed by Ruby Newhouse, she knows that the killer is female due to the fact that men don't care about the suffering of women.
- Dirty Cop: Chicago's police force are willing to look the other way when it comes to Herman Coward's illegal activities as he bribes them.
- Dream Walker: Ruby is able to enter the dreams of other people through her mind-reading ability. There, she can explore the dream world with the dreamer. She mainly enters the dreams of her sisters when she can't sleep.
- Dry Crusader: It's mentioned in chapter 1 that Jeremiah Newhouse has lectured to his daughters about the dangers of alcohol for hours on end.
- Everyone Has Standards: Being a vigilante killer who only goes for men who take abuse and advantage of vulnerable women, Ruby has three rules where she finds a possible target, determines if she has to kill somebody and if they are intending to commit heinous crimes before she commits a murder. She strictly sticks to these rules and doesn't casually go around killing people.
- Extremely Protective Child: Ruby is quite protective of her parents, especially her father, and thus takes threats against them very seriously. Her protectiveness of her father strengthens after he almost gets killed by a pipe bomb and spends a good majority of the book in a coma. Ruby beats herself up for failing to protect her father from harm and sets out to deal with the corrupt criminal organization that was intending to kill him.
- Fiery Redhead: Ruby has stark red hair and is a highly outspoken, snarky, independent girl who actively seeks justice against those who harm women alongside being very determined to take down the criminal organization run by Dennis Ferry.
- The Flapper: Ruby Newhouse is an 18-year-old girl who lives in 1928 Chicago and is an independent, confident woman who is against the mistreatment of women in her era. She also has her hair bobbed and wears sleek, elegant dresses from her time.
- Get into Jail Free: As part of Maggie's plan, Peter shape-shifts into Ruby and goes to jail in her place, staying there for a whole day. This foils Ferry's plan of framing Ruby for Comissioner Walsh's death when he calls the police and is informed that "Ruby" is already in jail.
- Giver of Lame Names: When Ruby finds out that Guy's pet dog doesn't have a name, she tells him to keep the dog away from Henrietta, who insisted on naming their cat Mr. Hubert and said cat hasn't forgiven them for giving her that name. This implies that Henrietta will give a questionable name to the dog if given the opportunity.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After the intense climax with Ferris, Ruby takes a large bottle of scotch that was hidden away in her father's library. When Maggie points it out, Ruby states that she has almost died several times and is having scotch because of it.
- Intrepid Reporter: Vivian Forbes is a passionate reporter who's willing to do independent investigation and go Off the Record for the hottest new story. She ends up helping Ruby, Guy, and Maggie expose the corruption going on in Chicago.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: While Guy Rosewood is a tricoloroform who's usually able to use his shapeshifting abilities, whenever he gets anxious and panics, he loses control of them and ends up messing up his current form when he unwillingly transforms. As a result, he worries about hurting people with his powers, believing that he has little to no control over them. It's why he seeks out Dr. Keene who studied tricolorforms, so he can learn how to control his abilities.Guy Rosewood: I... can't control it. My abilities. When I get shocked or scared, I lose control.
- It's All My Fault: Peter blames himself for his father's death as the latter pushed the former away to avoid getting hit by a train. The guilt over his death is why Peter prefers to take on the identity of Guy Rosewood to separate himself from his past. It took Ruby convincing him that it wasn't his fault that Peter stopped blaming himself for his father's death.
- Living a Double Life: Ruby Newhouse leads a double life where she acts like an independent, party-going flapper to hide the fact that she's a vigilante killer going after men who abuse women. In one particular moment, after poisoning Francis Mather, she heads straight to Tommy Gibson's party to keep her public image and hang out with her friends.
- Luxurious Liquor: The wealthy Tommy Gibson has loads of alcohol at his parties as a showcase of his wealth.
- Master Poisoner: Ruby Newhouse's main method of killing is through poison. She has a wide variety of poisons and learned how to make them from common chemicals and plants. Her poisonings are diligent enough that the people she killed had their deaths ruled as suicide, accidents or disease, letting her get away with murder. She is also able to put her poisons in needles and jewelry to use as weapons.
- Mind Rape: Ruby uses her telepathic abilities to force herself into Ferry's mind, savagely attacking it and heavily distressing him physically and mentally.
- Never Suicide: Thanks to his deep knowledge in forensics, Guy Rosewood figures out that a bunch of men whose deaths were ruled suicides, accidents, or from disease were actually murders. This puts him on the track to uncovering the murderer, Ruby Newhouse.
- New Year Has Come: The first five chapters of the book take place on New Year's Eve 1927, where in chapter 1 specifically, Ruby poisons Francis Mather's drink as she was determined to not let him live to see 1928.
- Old Shame: Dr. Keene is ashamed of his research on tricolorforms as it's what got him fired from his university job, lost respect from his scientific peers, and has to work as a medical examiner at a morgue as a result.
- The Professor: Dr. Gregory C. Keene is a scientist who researched tricolorforms but got fired from his university job because of said research and has to work as a medical examiner at a morgue. Thanks to him and his assistant, Guy Rosewood, discovering that a serial killer was running around due to figuring out that a few corpses were actually murdered, he gets funding for his own lab and is quite enthusiastic about it, hoping to regain his scientific reputation.
- Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: After getting drunk and pictured in the nude by Rex Blanchot who blackmailed her with them, the wealthy heiress, Maggie Stowe, realizes how often women are targeted in Chicago and wants to do something about it. In the epilogue, Maggie starts an organization called the Stowe House for Women, Children, and Families to help them out and give them legal and medical support.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: Justified. Thanks to his shapeshifting abilities, Guy Rosewood intentionally designed his face to be the most unremarkable as possible and uses it to slip into places without anyone noticing.
- Secret-Keeper: After discovering that Guy Rosewood is a shapeshifter, Ruby Newhouse agrees to keep his powers a secret. While Guy ends up revealing his secret to Dr. Keene, Vivian and Maggie, Ruby successfully kept her word and didn't tell anyone about Guy's abilities.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: Guy Rosewood's preferred form is that of a thin, gray-eyed man in his early twenties with blonde hair so light it's almost colorless and his face was designed to be unremarkable. He despises his true form which is eighteen, has brown eyes, dark hair, high cheekbones, square chin and narrow nose, but thanks to Ruby, he comes to embrace said form and makes it his new default appearance later on in the book.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Guy Rosewood is only able to change his physical body and can't change the clothes he wears. This is why he prefers shapeshifting into male forms rather than female forms because he can't afford women's clothes.
- Socially Awkward Hero: One of the protagonists, Guy Rosewood, is a kind guy with a sense of justice but due to his socially awkward nature, he often gets anxious easily, stutters quite a bit, worries about what he did wrong and tends to panic, preferring to avoid trouble.
- Switching P.O.V.: The novel switches between the first-person perspectives of its two protagonists, Ruby Newhouse and Guy Rosewood. The name of the character whose perspective is being followed is written on top of the first page of a chapter. After Guy's true name, Peter Buchanan, is revealed in chapter 21, all chapters told from his perspective have "Peter" written instead.
- Tagalong Reporter: After her initial encounter with Ruby at a party, news reporter Vivian Forbes often pops up to assist her and her friends, giving them what she knows about important details such as the corruption going in Chicago and what the people behind said corruption is capable of.
- Telepathy: Ruby Newhouse has the ability to read the minds of other people and discern their thoughts. She uses this as a vigilante to hunt down heinous men who harm women and poison them. It's later revealed that Ruby can break into the memories and minds of people, but it's dangerous for her as she could get permanently trapped in someone's mind that way.
- Thinking Out Loud: One of Maggie Stowe's quirks is that she often utters whatever thought she has out loud, usually in the exact wording.Maggie Stowe (thinking): What's Roo wearing? Damn, I'm overdressed.
Maggie Stowe (immediately afterwards, out loud): Damn, I'm overdressed. - Thou Shalt Not Kill: After finding out Guy is close to figuring out the she's the Angel Killer and has been tracking down said killer, Ruby decides to stop killing to avoid getting caught. However, she ends up killing Rex Blanchot in self-defense and later drops her self-imposed rule.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Francis Mather has been planning to poison his wife in order to get the money from the life insurance she has. However, he's unable to kill his wife because he gets poisoned by Ruby and dies.
- Treacherous Advisor: It turns out that Albert, Jeremiah Newhouse's secretary, is one of the people plotting to kill Jeremiah. He specifically wants Jeremiah's occupation of state attorney and ultimately gets it but only because Jeremiah managed to survive and decided to retire.
- Vigilante Man: Ruby Newhouse is a vigilante who kills horrid men who abuse and take advantage of vulnerable women, knowing that said men would be able to get away scot-free and not face justice otherwise.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Guy Rosewood is a tricoloroform, a shapeshifter who is able to change his whole body and shape in a wide variety of ways, even being able to take on the appearance of others. However, he can only shapeshift into humans, can't take on unnatural human traits (such as crazy skin and hair colors), and it's harder for him to shrink his size than enlarge it.
