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A DEATH FOR A DARLING by E.X. Giroux

A DEATH FOR A DARLING

By

Pub Date: May 21st, 1985
Publisher: St. Martin's

A second adventure for sensitive, classy Robert Forsythe, London-based barrister-sleuth (A Death for Adonis), and for Sandy, his energetic, middle-aged secretary--who insists that Robert come for the weekend to the shabby estate of her old acquaintance Honoria Farquson. The house, you see, has been hired by a movie-making team, including: bitterly cynical character-actress Marcia Mather (Honoria's friend from childhood); cameraman Sam Cochrane; scriptwriter Giles Eady; director Melvin Borthwick; incredibly boorish leading man Mickey Dowling; and Sandy's big surprise for her boss--icy blonde star Erika Von Farr, Forsythe's longtime dream girl. (She's also, it turns out, Honoria's niece--and she appears to be madly in love with Dowling.) Nasty undercurrents are rampant as the weekend progresses, of course. They culminate in the poisoning of Mather--seemingly a murder meant for Dowling. So Forsythe goes searching for clues deep in a tragic past. . . but not in time to prevent more tragedy in the present. With a series of last-minute plot manipulations, a cartoonish villain, and a style that's often charmlessly old-fashioned: an uncompelling follow-up to a so-so debut.