The Sharpest Needle

January 1, 2020
In 1939 Los Angeles, motion-picture costume designer Edith Head has a surprise for her friend Lillian Frost, who narrates this series, now in its third installment. It seems somebody is making a movie based on a real-life crime, and the filmmakers intend to portray Lillian's LAPD detective boyfriend, Gene Morrow, in a very unflattering light. Are the filmmakers playing fast and loose with the facts, or does the cop have some secrets he'd prefer stayed hidden? The second Frost/Head mystery, Dangerous to Know (2017), was an improvement over the first, Design for Dying (2016), and this one ups the ante again. Head, the real-life costume designer who would go on to become a legend in the film industry, has become a rounded human being, fully fleshed out, and not a collection of character traits. Frost, a fictional character, is likewise more genuine. And the story, concerning a bank robbery and the death of Morrow's partner, is genuinely gripping. Well done.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)