The Killing Club

January 24, 2005
The authors of this elaborate thriller-spoof are an odd team: Walsh is a fictional character from the soap opera One Life to Live
and Edgar-winner Malone is the ABC show's former head writer. The book has nothing to do with the TV program or its characters. Marcie herself isn't even a character. But on the actual television soap, the character Marcie will be writing a book—this book—as part of the show, and there will be eerie echoes of Marcie's plot—this plot—on the show. The book's heroine is 20-something Jamie Ferrara, a police homicide detective in the small New Jersey town of Gloria. When one of Jamie's high school buddies is killed in what looks like an accident, Jamie is reminded that during her senior year, she and the victim belonged to the Killing Club, in which members designed strategies for killing people they didn't like. When Jamie realizes that the accident victim invented his own murder scenario, she starts investigating. Walsh/Malone craft an interesting plot spiced up by the Peyton Place–like antics of Gloria's residents. At one point, Jamie asks herself, "Was there anybody in Gloria... who wasn't cheating on a spouse?" Kind of like Llanview, where One Life to Live
takes place. If "author" Walsh is killed off on OLTL
, she can always make a new career writing readable, enjoyable mysteries, as long as she teams up with Malone. Agent, Peter Matson at Sterling Lord Literistic. (Mar.)

Forecast:
Cross-promotion (or call it cross-pollination?) with ABC should attract curious
One Life to Live fans. At the other end of the spectrum, Walsh/Malone might spark some publishing biz gossip with their transgression of book-world boundaries.

February 1, 2005
Detective Sergeant Jamie Ferrara suspects that her former high school chum's death by fire was not accidental. Friend Ben belonged to the "killing club," a school group of misfits who wrote down imaginary murder scenarios: now he has died according to his own fiction. Attempting to convince her superiors of murder, Jamie looks into the deaths of other members, notifies surviving members of the club including a still attractive ex-love interest, and otherwise investigates. Marcie Walsh, played by Kathy Brier, is a popular character on the television soap opera One Life To Live, so this readable, entertaining effort should find wide readership. [As part of a tie-in promotion, the book has been integrated into the show's plot, and fans will see Marcie writing the book-Ed.]

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Murder gets personal for Gloria, New Jersey, police detective Jamie Ferrara when an old friend from high school is killed. In short succession, several other friends follow, all of whom were members of the Killing Club, a high-school group that planned the murders of people who bugged them. Is the killer someone who supposedly committed suicide years ago? The only person Jamie can rule out is herself. This book has an odd genesis. "Author" Marcie Walsh is a character on ABC's " One Life to Live" (both ABC and Hyperion are owned by Disney), and Malone, along with being a celebrated novelist, is the show's recently departed writer. Cross promotion with ABC Daytime is planned and apparently will take place even though Malone is no longer with the show. Fortunately, the book can stand on its own without the gimmicks. Malone, an Edgar winner, struts his stuff here. The twists twist well, the characters have just the right amount of depth, and Malone's splendid use of detail enables him to create a fascinating, multidimensional community.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)