Silent Murders

July 21, 2014
Miley draws on the unsolved 1922 murder of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor for her absorbing follow-up to The Impersonator (2013). In 1925, former vaudevillian Jessie Beckett is working as a script girl when she receives a dream assignment: temporary assistant to swashbuckling legend Douglas Fairbanks. To her delight, director Bruno Heilmann invites her to a party at his home, where she has a chance encounter with an old family friend. Alas, the friend and Heilmann turn up dead, and two partygoers are poisoned. The authorities sniff suspiciously around Jessie and the shady David Carr after they discover drugs at Heilmann’s house. Jessie and a sharp cop suspect that more lies behind the murders, and Fairbanks is worried about the potential involvement of his alcoholic sister-in-law. Readers will enjoy the novel’s taut climax, cameos by famous and future stars, and a resourceful heroine who uses her acting skills in investigating and escaping from trouble. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency.