Valentino Will Die

December 7, 2020
Casey’s enjoyable sequel to 2019’s The Wrong Girl finds 21-year-old silent movie star Bianca LaBelle, who shot to fame in “a series of wildly popular adventure pictures about the indomitable world traveler, journalist, and sometime spy, Bianca Dangereuse,” set to embark on a new film, costarring with her good friend Rudy Valentino. The two are having a heart-to-heart one night by her L.A. swimming pool when Rudy tells her he’s received several threatening letters, each with the same message: “Valentino will die.” On a trip to New York, Rudy does indeed become ill, and is hospitalized. Bianca travels to New York to be at his bedside. Still weak, Rudy asks Bianca to find out who might have poisoned him. Bianca calls on PI Ted Oliver to help, unaware that Ted’s also investigating Rudy on behalf of a gangster known as the Irish godmother. Casey smoothly incorporates real events and people into a plot that’s more thriller than mystery. Lovers of old movies and Hollywood gossip will have fun.

January 1, 2021
Hollywood society and mobsters mix when a famous actress tries to fulfill her legendary friend's dying wish. Bianca LaBelle, best known as adventure heroine Bianca Dangereuse, and Rudolph Valentino are making their first movie together. The two are good friends but not the lovers the rumor mill suggests. Rudy confides in Bianca, a down-to-earth farm girl from Oklahoma, who overcame dangerous challenges to become a star. Rudy's been getting death threats. He's fed up with his glamorous life but continues to meet his obligations. Bianca suggests that private eye Ted Oliver could help, but Rudy, fatalistic, heads out to promote Son of the Sheik in New York, where he becomes deathly ill. Catching the first train east, Bianca arrives just in time to talk with Rudy, who's sure his fatal stomach problems are the result of poison. His death is chalked up to natural causes, but Bianca's determined to find his killer. Back in California, she asks Oliver to investigate. He works almost exclusively for a mobster he dares not cross but agrees to do his best for Bianca. Who would want Rudy dead? Given his reputation, reasons Bianca, cherchez la femme. In trying to get close to a wealthy man whose daughter knew Rudy and has run off, Bianca and Oliver visit an offshore gambling ship. The results are enlightening but deadly. A plausible and exciting premise, famous characters, period movie glamour, and a blockbuster ending.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.