The last embrace

Format:

Book

Title:

The last embrace

Author:

Hamilton, Denise (Novelist), author.

ISBN:

9781416584933

9780743296731

Edition:

First Scribner hardcover edition.

Publication:

New York : Scribner, 2008.

Physical Description:

384 pages ; 24 cm

Summary:

In 1949 Los Angeles, Lily Kessler, a former stenographer and spy for the OSS, is asked by her late fiancé's mother to find out what happened to his sister Kitty, an actress who is missing from her Hollywood boardinghouse. Although the aspiring starlets at the house insist that Kitty is off somewhere furthering her career, her body is found the next day in a ravine below the Hollywood sign. Unimpressed by the local police, Lily investigates on her own.

Subject(s):

Actresses -- Crimes against -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- California -- Los Angeles -- Fiction.

Women detectives -- California -- Los Angeles -- Fiction.

Police -- California -- Los Angeles -- Fiction.

Motion picture industry -- Fiction.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction.

California -- Los Angeles

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction

Detective and mystery fiction.

Noir fiction.

Fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	MYSTERY Hamilton, D.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From Denise Hamilton, who has been hailed as one of today's must-read writers (Lee Child), comes a sexy, atmospheric, and seductive thriller set in 1949 Los Angeles, inspired by classic noir literature and a true unsolved crime.Lily Kessler, a former stenographer and spy for the OSS, is asked by her late fiance's mother to find out what happened to his sister Kitty, an actress who is missing from her Hollywood boardinghouse. Although the aspiring starlets at the house insist that Kitty is off somewhere furthering her career, her body is found the next day in a ravine below the Hollywood sign. Unimpressed by the local police, Lily investigates on her own.As Lily delves further into Kitty's life, she encoun-ters fiercely competitive actors, gangsters, an eccentric special-effects genius, exotic denizens of Hollywood's nightclubs, and a homicide detective who might distract her from her quest for justice. But the landscape in burgeoning postwar Los Angeles can shift kaleido-scopically, and Lily begins to see how easily a young woman can lose her balance and fall prey to the alluring city's dangers....With a vibrant cast of memorable characters, unerring insight into the desires and dark impulses that can flare between men and women, and a riveting narrative that builds to a stunning conclu-sion, The Last Embrace showcases Denise Hamilton at the height of her storytelling powers as she transports readers to a fascinating, transitional time in one of America's most beguiling cities.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Lily Kessler, a former OSS officer, fearlessly treads Hollywood's meanest streets in search of her late fiance's actress sister, Kitty Hayden, who's gone missing while seeking juicy parts and wealthy lovers, in this evocative stand-alone set in 1949 from Hamilton (Prisoner of Memory and four other Eve Diamond thrillers). Soon after moving into Kitty's grungy boarding house, Lily learns Kitty's been murdered, like the famous "Black Dahlia" not long before, and she puts all her skills--intuition, deduction, inference and logic--into unraveling the crime. Gang wars, police corruption, shady reporters and a passionate new love interest, Det. Stephen Pico, can't stop Lily. Despite some papier-mache minor characters and some celluloid motivations, this torrid, down-and-dirty expose of the postwar entertainment industry includes enough special effects to make all that glitter look--temporarily--like 24-carat gold. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

It's 1949, and Lily Kessler, former OSS spy, is home from Europe and visiting her hometown of Los Angeles to look for the sister of her late fiancé, an aspiring actress who has disappeared. Lily finds the missing Kitty quickly enough, but she is in the morgue, the first victim of a Black Dahlia-like serial killer who seems to be preying on the residents of a Hollywood boardinghouse for actresses. Lilly takes Kitty's room in the house, starts investigating, and quickly becomes a target. Hamilton, author of the contemporary Eve Diamond series, capably mixes and matches here, combining a staple of women's melodrama (career girls in a boardinghouse see Haines' Winter of Her Discontent) with an edgy evocation of postwar, hard-boiled L.A., á la James Ellroy. It's an unlikely combination of sweet and savory, but Hamilton makes it work with a engaging heroine and a cast of quirky supporting characters who seem to have walked off the set of Sunset Boulevard. The details click into place smoothly, the struggling actresses hit their marks, and even the obligatory romance avoids the smarm factor. Ellroy meets women's fiction? Why not?--Ott, Bill Copyright 2008 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Departing from her award-winning Eve Diamond crime series (Prisoner of Memory; Last Lullaby), Hamilton sets this stand-alone novel in 1949 Hollywood. Former stenographer and OSS spy Lily Kessler returns to Los Angeles as a favor to her late fiance's mother. She agrees to search for her fiance's sister, Kitty, who moved to Hollywood for a movie career and has disappeared. Kitty's boardinghouse roommates think she's gone off with a fellow actor, but her body is soon discovered in a ravine under the Hollywood sign. Frustrated by the lack of progress in the local police investigation, Lily sets off on her own to find Kitty's killer. In the process, she encounters movie moguls, actors, geeky special-effects wizards, mobsters, ambulance-chasing photographers, and a certain homicide detective whose advances are pleasantly unsettling. The atmosphere of postwar Hollywood and Hamilton's edgy noir style are spot-on. Her reputation for Chandleresque dialog and impeccable historical detail is strongly supported in this highly readable and entertaining story. Highly recommended for all popular fiction collections.--Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.