Silent-film buffs won’t care that there’s not much doom and more loose ends than a shoelace factory.
As Will H. Hays, the movie industry’s first censor, descends on 1922 Hollywood, Tom Collins, private eye to the stars, lands a second case in the scandal-ridden town.
With Hays newly arrived and sniffing around for blood, hot Metro director Rex Ingram, about to head east for the New York premiere of The Prisoner of Zenda, wants to do everything he can to make sure that Barbara La Marr, the star of his latest movie, Black Orchids, is squeaky clean. The trouble is that she isn’t. Ben Deeley, an actor who claims to be married to the bombshell actress, is suing her for divorce, and when she replies that their marriage was never legal because she hadn’t divorced his predecessor, his attorney offers to add bigamy to the suit. The timing couldn’t be worse, because inside La Marr’s glamorous costumes is a baby bump that Phil Olsen, of the Los Angeles Herald, or somebody else outside the studio is bound to notice any day now. Nor is La Marr the only performer subject to extortion. Ramon Samaniegos, a Metro contract player whose turn in The Prisoner of Zenda seems likely to launch him into stardom, is being blackmailed over the disappearance of the waiter Gianni, who was much more than a friend to the rising star. Meanwhile, an unidentified corpse lies cooling in the morgue after baking for weeks or months in the California sun. Could it be Gianni’s?
Silent-film buffs won’t care that there’s not much doom and more loose ends than a shoelace factory.Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8903-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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