Book Description Review The story is intricate and surprising, and the partnership between Head and her good friend Frost sets the stage for many further adventures (Booklist on Dangerous to Know)An exhilarating ride through Hollywood in its heyday . Lovers of old movies, fabulous gowns, and historical gossip will be enchanted (Publishers Weekly on Dangerous to Know)Vibrant, stylish and crackling, Design for Dying is both a gift to devotees of Golden Age Hollywood and a mystery lover’s delight. It’s a delicious cocktail, one you won’t want to end (Megan Abbott, bestselling author)A champagne-flavored frolic of a first mystery set during Hollywood’s golden age . Sure to delight fans of old Hollywood and Turner Classic Movies (Library Journal on Design for Dying)”This story, concerning a bank robbery, is genuinely gripping. Well done” (Booklist)”A meaty, densely packed presentation of Tinseltown driven by potentially murderous factions on the brink of World War II” (Kirkus Reviews)The warm working relationship that develops between Lillian and Edith will leave readers eager to see more of their adventures (Publishers Weekly on Design for Dying) Read more About the Author Renee Patrick is the pseudonym for married authors Rosemarie and Vince Keenan. Rosemarie is a research administrator and a poet. Vince is a screenwriter and a journalist. Both native New Yorkers, they currently live in Seattle, Washington. They have written two previous books starring Lillian Frost and Edith Head, Design for Dying and Dangerous to Know. Script for Scandal is their first book for Severn House. Read more Customers Review: I read the first two books in this series, and enjoyed the 50’s Hollywood aspects and the friendship between Edith Head and Lillian Frost. This third book has taken a turn towards the noir, which is not my cup of tea. It focuses more on the relationship between Lillian and her detective boyfriend, who is implicated in a corruption/murder scandal. Sometimes I think that authors don’t really get that readers may not actually remember that much about repeat characters when there is a wait between books. This book jumps right into the action – but it would have been helpful to revisit Lillian and Gene’s relationship, what they looked like, the connection between them, etc., so that I could care more about the outcome. Probably a good book if you like noir, but not as entertaining for me as the previous two novels.
I love this series! Anything to do with the Goldem Age of Hollywood fascinates me. Add a deftly written book with an engaging heroine, and I am hooked!Bugsy Seigal, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford pop up. And the clothes, ah to wear an Edith Head or an Adrian!The plot centers around Gene, the heroine’s boyfriend, and the shadow that has rested over his detective career.Namely that his partner was shot during a bank robbery. Was Gene in on it?Enjoy your tour of Hollywood, glittering stars, mystery, and above all couture.
At last the third book in the Lillian Frost and Edith Head mystery series by Renee Patrick (actually a wife and husband team) has arrived. Was it worth the wait? Yes!It takes place in 1939 in Hollywood. This time, the story is very personal to Lilian as the “script” in the title “Script for Scandal” is supposedly based on a real-life incident (that is, “real life” to the fictional characters) that reflects badly on someone near and dear to her. That someone positively lets Lillian know she should stay out of it, but, of course, it’s Lillian, and it involves a movie at Paramount. She’s got connections, including, of course, the divine Edith Head, and Lillian’s not about to sit back quietly and do nothing.It’s fast-paced and full of the clever quips and snappy patter one expects from Renee Patrick. The book is dedicated to Eddie Muller, renowned film noir expert and TCM host, and the interest in noir does extend to this book, which includes the sort of disreputable characters one would expect to encounter in Noir Alley. In fact, a famous noir role is foreshadowed in this book.We encounter some of our favorite Hollywood celebrities here, as well as a few less famous and a few more infamous characters. It takes me longer to read one of the Renee Patrick books than other books because I am frequently online looking up some unfamiliar characters to see if they were real or fictitious.This is the third book in the series, following “Design for Dying” and “Dangerous to Know.” If you want to start with this one, I believe you can without being lost, but it’s more fun to read them from the start.
Definitely worth the wait for book three. This time Lillian and Edith are working an old mystery with ties to several characters, creating unexpected tension between some of them. A hallmark of this series is the way the authors seamlessly integrate actual people into the fictional narrative, bringing something extra to the series. Humor, deftly & subtly applied is another staple of the series. Case in point: the scene with Bette Davis is priceless (those that follow with Joan Crawford are phenomenal as well). I’m trying to keep this spoiler free but I was surprised at the end. Given the way events unfolded between certain characters I expected what followed but in the reverse.
Noir! Fashion! Old Hollywood! All my favorite things. Love this book and the series. I’m going to read it again right away
“Script for Scandal” is the third in the Golden Age of Hollywood historical mystery series written by Renee Patrick, and the authors (the writing team of Rosemarie and Vince Keenan) pull out all the stops in this one. You gotta love a book dedicated to Eddie Muller, the Turner Classic Movies noir king!Lillian Frost is the social secretary to Addison Rice – a movie-mad fan with lots of money, who loves to throw big parties. Lillian always manages to find herself involved in Hollywood murder and mayhem, lucky for us readers. The crux of the plot is a 1936 bank robbery and how Lillian’s boyfriend, policeman Gene Morrow is tainted by it. The proceeds of the robbery are still missing. Did he plan it? Does he have the money? Of course, Lillian wants to “fix” this – he’s her man and she wants to help. All the while rubbing shoulders with a whole bunch of Hollywood elite at Paramount Studios, where her friend and follow connoisseur of mysteries works – the famous costume designer, Edith Head.A movie script supposedly “tells all” – the scriptwriter is an ex-con. Coincidentally, the investigation into the robbery is being reopened. It’s not a good time for Gene. She needs to find out what the scriptwriter knows and how he knows it. To do this she needs to get in the gates at Paramount and meet with “people,” and of course Edith can help with that. And Edith can help with ferreting out a lot more, as we know from previous books.Pretty soon a shifty character is murdered – what did he know? Something to do with the bank robbery? Lillian has to know, ’cause there’s trouble all around and it’s getting closer to Gene.Oh, and did I say that Benjamin Siegel is part of the plot, too? And Virginia Hill? And talk of Nazi sympathizers, and the mob muscling in to movie extras’ unions? Karma will rear its pretty (ugly?) little head, too, especially for that “Bugsy” guy (you’ll find out more about the nickname), enough for plenty of people and for plenty of years to come. You’ll see. It might be a little too much, when you think about it. So, don’t think about it. Just enjoy the show.While all this is going on, we are treated to the Hollywood star stories that make up the vignettes we’ve come to know from these books. We’ll catch glimpses of Paulette Goddard, Fred MacMurray, George Raft, even Edward G. Robinson. But the best has to be the contretemps between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. I won’t tell you why they’re there – you’ll have to read that for yourself.Finally, there’s another murder that pulls it all together. And Edith observes, and the wheels turn behind those large dark frames. As Miss Head tells everyone, “Sometimes you have to look at the story from a new angle.”Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book, in exchange for this review. |
15 reviews