WITHOUT MERCY

Is someone killing off the cast of a second-rate ’70s TV show?

Freelancer journalist Harper has been writing a “Where Are They Now?” series for Boston’s Entertain Me! magazine. When she learns that a third cast member of Kissing Cousins has died, she wonders if her editor was right in titling her last piece “Curse of the Kissing Cousins.” The first two deaths could easily have been accidents, but Holly Kendricks was shot. Superfan Vincent, convinced a killer is working through the cast from oldest to youngest, begs Tilda to track down Mercy Ashford, who’s next in line. Tilda, who’d modeled her own nonconformism on that of Mercy’s character, had tried in vain to trace the actress for earlier articles. Now she redoubles her efforts, hitting the Internet hard and interviewing dozens of Mercy’s old friends. But Mercy proves elusive. She hasn’t been seen since she walked off the set of a movie she was making after her series was canceled. With help from Vincent, computer nerd Javier and her new love interest, a hunky bodyguard who met Mercy as a young boy, Tilda finally finds clues to Mercy’s whereabouts before disaster strikes.

Sassy Tilda, taking the reins from Kelner’s usual sleuth, Laura Fleming (Wed and Buried, 2003, etc.), presides over an overburdened plot laced with Hollywood tidbits that may please trivia fans.