Lone Star

Novelist Edna Ferber, who is in Hollywood for the filming of her novel GIANT, falls under the spell of the young actor James Dean (mostly called "Jimmy" here). When Jimmy is accused of the murder of an aspiring actress, Edna investigates, with the help of her friend Mercedes McCambridge. Bernadette Dunne comes up with the perfect voice for the 70-year-old and feisty Ferber, who's telling the story, and then adjusts it for the younger characters. Among the cameo celebrities are Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sal Mineo. The fact that those who are voiced aren't recognizable as the stars we knew keeps the focus on Edna and her well-reasoned sleuthing. Could this be the first of a series? If so, let's hope Dunne keeps reading! J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

January 26, 2009
Ifkovic’s promising debut, the first in a series, features real-life writer Edna Ferber as an amateur sleuth in 1955 Hollywood. The Pulitzer Prize winner is visiting there because her bestselling novel, Giant
, is being made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. While she’s repelled at how show biz distorts the thinking of everyone involved in it, she becomes fascinated by young Dean—truculent, winsome, infuriating and brilliant. Though he’s the hottest actor in town, he’s still vulnerable to blackmail letters from an unstable actress, so he’s the prime suspect when she’s murdered. The septuagenarian Ferber, an equally shrewd but tarter version of Miss Marple, begins investigating with the help of Giant
co-star Mercedes McCambridge, sorting through a city built on vanity and glamour. Ifkovic handles the mystery plot competently, but the main pleasure is looking beneath the surface of the movie business to see the stars as people, in particular the doomed Dean.