Dame Alice Cartwright (Dame Alice Mysteries) by Allie Mahoney
About Dame Alice Hits Hollywood
Cozy Mystery
April 1937: When Penelope Greenleigh, assistant at Ten Spot Press, learns she'll be heading to Hollywood to supervise script changes on the set of Lady Irwin's Diamonds, she should be thrilled. Who wouldn't want to mingle with movie stars in sunny California?
But there's a catch: Penelope, 29 and from Cape May, New Jersey, has been asked to impersonate Dame Alice Cartwright, the world's bestselling mystery author, who's 47 and lives in Copley-on-the-Wold, England.
On the night Penelope arrives in L.A., Lady Irwin's lead actress disappears and a Harry Winston necklace goes missing. Soon, gossip columnist Hattie Holiday threatens to expose Penelope's deception, mobsters are coming after the film's boozy director, and worst of all, Dame Alice's script has gone from murder mystery to Fred and Ginger-style musical!
The action unfolds at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Trocadero, and hotspot Chasen's as Penelope works to solve the crimes alongside a handsome detective and a hapless studio flunky. Can she find the diamonds, the actress, and survive a wild week in Hollywood?
About the Guest Post by Allie Mahoney
This Place is Murder!
Location is key in these classic mysteries, both cozy and noir
By Allie Mahoney
Skilled authors have a way of transporting you there on Page 1: You can feel the heat on your skin and the sand under your feet at Bahia Mar, the Fort Lauderdale marina where Travis McGee keeps rescuing blondes aboard the Busted Flush in John D. MacDonald’s series. And then there are Agatha Christie’s forays to adorable corners of England where it seems village fetes are the main action, until a Girl Guide gets murdered and Hercule Poirot is called onto the case. From Florida to the U.K., here are seven indelible mystery settings.
Father Brown’s bucolic Kembleford, Cotswolds, as seen in the series on the BBC and on Britbox. In G.K. Chesteron’s books, the delightful and unassuming priest/detective served the parish of Cobhole, Essex, but we can’t picture actor Mark Williams anywhere other than Kembleford.
Santa Teresa stands in for writer Sue Grafton’s home of Santa Barbara, CA, in the late author’s beloved Kinsey Milhone series. From A is for Alibi to Y is for Yesterday, the grumpy and relatable investigator never gives up taking down criminals in the scenic coastal town. Love Kinsey’s one indestructible black dress, too.
Carl Hiaasen’s mysteries take us from the down-to-earth Florida Keys to swanky Star Island in Miami. A favorite is Skinny Dip, in which loner Mick Stranahan dodges criminals and romances beautiful women who keep showing up at his house in Stiltsville, south of Key Biscayne,
Another Sunshine State genius: Dave Barry. This year’s Swamp Story is a send-up of social media influencers and a tale of hidden treasure set in the Everglades.
Poirot’s perfectly organized Whitehaven Mansions home/office, a hub for clients whose jewels have been stolen or whose cooks have disappeared. The magnificent series starring David Suchet used the exterior of a 1936 Art Deco building in London, Florin Court, as its stand-in for Agatha Christie’s fictional flats.
The cold-averse Poirot is often summoned to a country house, where he invariably confronts a lack of central heating. Dame Agatha conjures numerous memorable manors for Poirot to visit, including Styles, The Hollow, Nasse House in Dead Man’s Folly, and Gorston Hall in Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.
Hollywood! In my new book Dame Alice Hits Hollywood, I envisioned the glamour of 1937 Los Angeles as something akin to a small town where everyone knows their neighbor’s business. What lurks behind the lush hedges at canned soup mogul Morty Le Coque’s house? Is a missing diamond necklace concealed in Count Federico Fulco’s suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel? Will gangsters chop off film director Skipper Farley’s toes on the set of Lady Irwin’s Diamonds? I hope you enjoy Dame Alice Hits Hollywood!
About Allie Mahoney
A longtime magazine journalist, Allie Mahoney has written for Town & Country, Time Out New York, and Cosmo. A lifelong Agatha Christie fan, her shelves are also filled with the books of P.G. Wodehouse, Dave Barry, Sophie Kinsella, and Carl Hiaasen. Additional guilty pleasures: Classic Hollywood movies, fashion, dogs, Bravo tv, BritBox, Phillies baseball, and the beach.
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