Script for Scandal (Lillian Frost & Edith Head, #3)

by Renee Patrick

Sleuthing duo Lillian Frost and Edith Head investigate a behind-the-scenes scandal in this delightful Golden Age of Hollywood mystery.

1939, Los Angeles. Lillian Frost is shocked when her friend, glamorous costume designer Edith Head, hands her the script to a new film that's about to start shooting. Streetlight Story is based on a true crime: the California Republic bank robbery of 1936. Lillian's beau, LAPD detective Gene Morrow, was one of the officers on the case; his partner, Teddy, was tragically shot dead. It seems the scriptwriter has put Gene at the centre of a scandal, twisting fact with fiction - or has he?

With Gene reluctant to talk about the case, the movie quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town, a suspicious death on the Paramount studio lot and the police reopening the investigation into Teddy's death, Lillian is determined to find answers. Can Lillian and Edith uncover the truth of what happened that fateful day and clear Gene's name?

• ISBN10: 1780296509
• ISBN13: 9781780296500
• Publish Date: 30 October 2020 (first published 30 September 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
• Imprint: Severn House
• Edition: Main
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Script for Scandal is the third book in the Lillian Frost & Edith Head mysteries by Renee Patrick. Released 7th Jan 2020 by Severn House, it's 240 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a well written and diverting period mystery in and around the Hollywood film industry of the late 1930s. Written around a skeleton of real historical figures and movies of the time, this is a fun read. One of the central plot elements, a bank robbery from 1936, is fictionalized, but many of the secondary characters who have cameos are actual celebrities and real figures from the time period.

These books are always full of well researched links and titles (movies and books) for further reading. The author is gifted with a knack for descriptive prose and the 'golden' age of Hollywood and the glittering productions come alive in the narrative. The plot is straightforward and moves slowly but surely to the satisfying denouement.

One of the high points of these books for me is the author's note at the back with extra historical tidbits and interesting trivia. They are always full of background info about the settings, movies, and characters and are always fun to read.

This is a fun read, lighthearted, clean, not gritty or very violent, and satisfying. Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.