Design for Dying

February 29, 2016
Set in 1937, Patrick’s upbeat, name-dropping debut starring real-life Hollywood costume designer Edith Head puts feminine cleverness, fashion sense, and social acumen front and center. The police suspect Edith and Lillian Frost, a department store salesperson and wannabe actress, in the murder of Lillian’s often opportunistic ex-roommate, Ruby Carroll, who’s found dead in a gown that turns out to have been stolen from the wardrobe department of Paramount Pictures, where Edith works. To clear themselves, Lillian and Edith seek to unwind the threads of Ruby’s final ruse. The interests of celebrities, socialites, and European royalty cross with those of a shady photographer, a club owner, and a boarding house landlady—to create both a complex environment for sleuthing replete with possibilities and an exciting sense of the glamorous, gossipy, and creative world of cinema’s golden age. The warm working relationship that develops between Lillian and Edith will leave readers eager to see more of their adventures. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

March 1, 2016
Patrick, a fig-leaf pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team, debuts with a tale that entangles not-yet-famed costume designer Edith Head in a case of Hollywood murder. The road to Miss Head's acquaintance runs improbably through beauty queen-turned-shopgirl Lillian Frost, who's shocked to hear that her former roommate Ruby Carroll has been shot to death and additionally disconcerted when the LAPD's Detective Gene Morrow reminds her that although they'd quarreled and separated months ago, the two had met again quite recently when Ruby tried to inveigle Lillian into her scheme to borrow costumes from the Paramount wardrobe department, where Ruby had gone to work, and forget to return them. Lillian had indignantly refused, but there's clear evidence that Ruby had found another accomplice: the gown she was found dead in had been worn by none other than Gertrude Michael in The Return of Sophie Lang, and a suitcase of Ruby's Lillian discovers turns out to be full of clothing Edith identifies as Paramount's very own. Why was Ruby so intent on swiping outfits that could have been easily identified when she might have availed herself instead of the largesse of her upscale friends Armand Troncosa and Princess Natalie Szabo? That's an excellent question, and eventually Patrick provides an excellent answer--but not before Lillian and Edith have bonded over shared adventures, sartorial taste, and the travails of being a woman in 1937 Hollywood. Although the serenely levelheaded costumer designer gets to solve the mystery, Patrick often keeps her under wraps, and even the cameos by Gracie Allen, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, and Preston Sturges aren't an adequate substitute. Here's hoping the promised series will redress the balance.

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March 1, 2016

Lillian Frost was Miss Astoria Park in 1936. Her claim to fame included a trip to Hollywood for a screen test. One year later, Lillian works at Tremayne's department store as a sales clerk. When the body of Ruby Carroll, Lillian's former roommate, is found in an alley, the only clue is the Edith Head gown she was wearing, which was stolen from Paramount Studios. As the prime suspect in Ruby's death, Lillian gets pulled into the investigation with Head, who wants to protect her career from scandal. Also putting in appearances are Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Sturges, Bob Hope, and Billy Wilder. VERDICT Under the Patrick pseudonym, married coauthors Rosemarie and Vince Keenan (Down the Hatch) have written a champagne-flavored frolic of a first mystery set during Hollywood's golden age. Lillian is determined to make her own way, and Edith aims to take over Paramount's costume department. Both serve as independent and resolute sleuths. This is sure to delight fans of old Hollywood and Turner Classic Movies.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2016
In the late 1930s, an aspiring actress is murdered. Her former roommate (and the book's narrator), Lillian Frost, soon discovers that the dead girl has been stealing from Paramount Studios, where she worked in the wardrobe department (in fact, the dress the girl was wearing when she was killed is Paramount's property). This leads Lillian to Edith Head, the costume designer who would later win multiple Oscars and become world famous. Lillian and Edith team up to solve the thefts and the murder. Like Ed Ifkovic's excellent Edna Ferber mysteries, this novel intermixes real people and made-up characters and sets its fictional story against real-world places and events. It's not as good as the Ferber novelsthe writing isn't as snappy, the characters aren't as involvingbut the raw ingredients are all here. The authors ( Renee Patrick is a pseudonym for a writing team) need to give the iconic Edith Head more to do; she has the makings of a fine amateur sleuth, but for a large portion of this novel, she feels like a minor supporting character. With that problem fixed, this could become a delightful Hollywood series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)