THE DEAD HOLLYWOOD MOMS SOCIETY

by Lindsay Maracotta ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996

Compromising Positions in today's ""family""-oriented, sleazier-than-ever Tinseltown--as a discontented Hollywood wife (and filmmaker in her own right) plays amateur shamus, mostly for laughs, and uncovers kinkiness and nastiness galore in big-time moviedom households. Lucy Freers--Oscar-nominated animator, wife of a no-longer-hot producer, mother of preteen Chloe--becomes the wrong kind of mini-celebrity when the body of stunning neighbor Julia Prentice, a no-talent ex-actress married to an aging sitcom megastar, surfaces in Lucy's pool. Worse yet, since Julia was known to be a voracious adulterer, suspicion falls on both Lucy's sexy husband Kit (who had caught Julia's eye) and Lucy herself. So, to clear the family name, she starts sleuthing, digging up Hollywood dirt--like Julia's past as an S&M call girl, her secret visits to L.A.'s most exclusive plastic surgeon (with an unlisted office number), and her social-climbing rivalry with elegant Summer Rossner (wife of an Ovitz-like super-agent) over the leadership of a kids' charity, the Magic Wand Foundation. In no time, naturally, Lucy's being followed and shot at. She also flirts with adultery, of course, given that Kit (who's been unfaithful and neglectful) is away on location and a hunky screenwriter is renting the house next door. Before the predictable showdown with the killer, Lucy finds another corpse, witnesses a suicide, and bonds--sort of--with frumpy Detective Teresa Show, LAPD (who dons a Carmen Miranda-esque getup to accompany Lucy to the $1500-a-plate Magic Wand gala). The mystery here is middling Colombo-level, with unsavory details that seem more tired than shocking. Still, Lucy narrates with edgy, appealing zest, and Maracotta (Everything We Wanted, 1984) name-drops and roman-…-clefs her way through the New Hollywood--from the parenting craze to the real-estate game--with a neat satirical spin that only occasionally tips over into slapstick.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION