I love to read, and often spend my lunch hour with my nose in a good page turner. A few months ago I stumbled on a series of hardboiled-style detective novels set in 1940s Hollywood. Written by Stuart M. Kaminsky, the books star a detective named Toby Peters who always manages to find himself working on celebrity cases, none of which could ever be called run of the mill or straightforward. Mildred Pierced, the second to last book in the series, involves Joan Crawford, who is about to start working on a movie that she knows will put her back at the top—Mildred Pierce. Unfortunately, Ms. Crawford is the only witnesses to the death of inept dentist Sheldon Minck’s, wife—who just so happens to have been shot with an arrow while Sheldon is out practicing his archery skills. Ms. Crawford wants Toby Peters to get to the bottom of the mystery while keeping her name out of the papers—for such publicity would definitely put a wrench in her career plans! Sheldon, who rents a tiny space in his dentist office (torture chamber is the better term for it) to Toby, wants him to prove his innocence even though he was at the scene of the crime with crossbow in hand. The end result is a witty tale with just the right amount of twists and turns.
I find the Toby Peters series to be a fast reads with snappy, creative storylines. Kaminsky is an author who knows his history, especially Hollywood history, and that makes the series a good pick for retro lovers. I enjoy his detailed descriptions of people and places, which serve to bring the characters and stories to life very vividly, and I definitely appreciate an author who loves the past as much as I do!
xoxo,
Amanda Lee
A few years ago I watched a fabulous movie on MYSTERY!, called Dead Gorgeous. Set in 1946 England, the story tells of two women who worked together during the war, lost touch with each other, and then meet by chance on the street one day. Both women are now married, and both are wishing they weren’t, though for very different reasons. The two characters are complete opposites—there’s Rose Bell, a quiet, reserved woman resigned to marriage to an oafish man who has a drinking and womanizing problem, and Antonia, a spoiled, scheming woman who married for money and now has decided she wants to trade her husband in for a younger Italian model (but she’d like to keep her hubby’s riches, naturally.) Essentially, the story is an updated version of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Anyway, as I was saying, I watched this movie several years ago, found the storyline to be an entertaining one, and was taken by the fabulous wardrobe (socialite Antonia’s outfits were to-die-for.) Some time later, I came across the book this movie was based on, Peter Lovesey’s On the Edge, but for some reason never got around to reading it. I decided to pick it up this week, and boy am I glad I did—the book is even better than the movie, though the latter does stay fairly true to the former. There are some differences, mostly minor ones (like the color of Antonia’s hair; in the movie she’s a striking brunette, and in the book she’s a green-eyed blonde), but the movie mirrors the book quite well on the whole. As you can see, the costuming for the show was delicious—Antonia wears a host of extravagant suits, decadent hats, and smashing evening wear. And the book descriptions of her outfits were a treat too—doesn’t this outfit sound divine?
