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Summary
Summary
The last place that Chief of Police Susan Wren expects to find herself is in the middle of a real-life soap opera. But when a Hollywood film crew comes to the small town of Hampstead, Kansas, there seems to be more drama off the stage than on it. On a film shoot one day, a fatal accident befalls stunt-double Kay Bender. A dead-ringer for the stunning screen star Laura Edwards, Kay may have been the unfortunate victim of a murderous plot to get rid of the much-disliked actress. As Susan investigates, she finds that almost everyone has a motive for wanting to sabotage the film or to kill Laura. The film is running far over budget, and the temperamental director appears to be a likely suspect. Susan also uncovers a steamy affair between Laura's boyfriend, narcissistic actor Nick Logan, and Laura's rival for the part, actress Sheri Lloyd, who makes no effort to conceal her dislike for the beautiful and talented star. To top it all off, Susan discovers that Parkhurst, her deputy, was once married to the now-famous actress. Susan must battle both her jealousy of Parkhurst and Laura's past relationship and her attraction to this darkly mysterious officer whose feelings she is unable to guess.
Author Notes
Charlene Weir lives in El Cerrito, California. Her first novel, The Winter's Widow , won the SMP/ Malice Domestic Contest for Best First Traditional Mystery in 1991.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
When a movie crew commandeers the small town of Hampstead, Kans., the tiny police force is hard-pressed to guard the location sites. The death of a stunt womanwhose jump into a haystack fatally reveals a hidden pitchforkadds significantly to the trouble for Hampstead's chief of police, Susan Wren, in her fourth appearance (Winter Widow). As Susan, a former San Francisco cop, becomes embroiled in the mercurial personalities involved in the production, she is surprised to learn that her most experienced officer (and love interest), Ben Pankhurst, was once married to Laura Edwards, the star of the picture. Taking him off the case, she must rely on her less trained deputy, Yancy, who has been providing security for the company. Learning that Laura has been receiving threatening notes, Susan wonders if the pitchfork was really meant for her. Further incidents complicate the case: the stuntwoman's boyfriend is pushed into the path of Yancy's car, an actress is stabbed. Yancy's forgetful mother becomes involved in the crimes, and then the young deputy himself is lured to a secluded spot, where he is stabbed and has his gun stolen. Although Weir adds a funny subplot about a skulking midnight artist who paints nudes on garbage cans, snippets of the killer's thoughts interspersed throughout blunt the suspense. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The little town of Hampstead, Kansas, is enthralled when a Hollywood crew arrives to make a movie in a long-untenanted local mansion. The film's star is beautiful Laura Edwards, whose stand-in for dangerous scenes is stuntwoman Kay Bender. Then Kay is killed while doing one such scene. Was Laura meant to be the target? Town police chief Susan Wren (Family Practice, 1995, etc.) is determined to find out. The news that Ben Parkhurst, her best officer and (slowly growing) romantic interest, was once married to Laura leads her to remove him from the case, substituting the less experienced Peter Yancy. Matters escalate with a series of stalker-like notes to Laura and the stabbing death of bimbo-ish supporting actress Sheri Lloyd in her hotel room--the body discovered by moody, pink-haired gofer Clem Jones. Arrogant local teenager Kevin Murphy; hanger-on oddball Delmar Cayliff; and even Yancy's slightly cracked mother Raina are suspect--until there's a confession following an attack on Yancy. Susan isn't buying it, though, and is inspired to call on an old friend in Hollywood, eventually uncovering the background events that lead her to the true culprit. A tangle of subplots and neuroses kept afloat by high-pitched suspense, lots of moviemaking lore, and the on-target dissection of a clutch of dysfunctional personalities. Flawed but steadily diverting. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Here Weir takes an overused premise--outsiders disrupt a quiet town--and gives it a fresh, clever treatment by dropping a Hollywood movie production into Kansas. Susan Wren, police chief of Hampstead, Kansas, and her staff find the actors, actresses, and crew of the movie Lethal Promise incredibly vexing; in addition, the movie ends up adding murder and theft to Wren's full caseload.Weir's police procedural is stylishly written, moves at a good pace, and has a dash of grim, dark humor. The characters--even the most vile townspeople and obnoxious Hollywood types--are well drawn and interesting. In particular, subordinates Parkhurst and Yancy are satisfyingly complex and sympathetic. Two diversionary subplots (one involving a mystery artist who draws erotic graffiti on trash), which are woven in with the murder, make the book's climax a surprise. --John Rowen
Library Journal Review
Weir won an Agatha Award for her first Susan Wren novel, Winter Widow (LJ 4/1/92). In this third outing, the former an Francisco cop, now police chief in Hampstead, Kansas, confronts murder on a movie set. Despite one too many coincidencesthe lead's former husband is also on the Hampstead forceand some stock figures, there are plenty of red herrings and satisfying character and relationship building on the part of the cops. Recommended for larger collections.Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.