Playing Dead: A Hollywood Mystery

To my amusement and embarrassment, halfway through the book, I began to suspect I'd read it before (and this book was published only 5 years ago). By the end, I was convinced this was my second read, although I'd forgotten most of it. But -- I'm not sorry I re-read it, because this is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery -- well-plotted, well-written, amusing, and absorbing. I don't really understand why the book isn't better known, since I think it has a wide audience who would appreciate this jaundiced view of life among the elite of Hollywood - a world where 10 year olds have several thousand dollars to spend at a charity auction and parents will stop at nothing to keep their child actor offspring from entering puberty. THe book's "detective" does not get drawn into these values although her husband is a producer and her daughter attends a very elite Hollywood private school. The plot involves the death of a man who is a recently hired employee and a long-time friend (although they haven't seen each other for years) of our "detective," who does animation for PBS and is pregnant with her second child. The police are all too willing to tie the death to some other similar killings (they think they've arrested the people responsible), so she develops her own theories about the crime and begins investigating. Her theories relate to a murder that her nanny-friend may have witnessed, and that killer appears to have been a child -- who is probably attending her daughter's elite school. Whoever that child is... I think this is a great book and unless you read it in one sitting, you'll be anxious to get back to it. The detective is likeable and witty in an understated way.

Unlikely amateur sleuth Lucy Freers, 5 months pregnant, mother to 5th-grader Chloe, and the wife of an A-List Hollywood producer, stubbornly forges ahead when she realizes her temporary live-in nanny, Brandon McKenna (a former lover) was probably not the latest victim of some lowlife highway shooters, but got in the way of a killer. Animator Lucy accidentally finds a tape seeming to show the murder of a casting director who was pushed to her death by a child actor, and wonders if Brandon was blackmailing the murderer. It's more involved than that, and a cast that includes a cynical LAPD detective, the fashion-challenged Terry Shoe, a bevy of unpleasant wannabe-child stars and tantrum-throwing child stars, horrific stage mothers who'll stop at nothing to see their children on the big screen, and a lesbian mother-to-be, will keep readers turning the pages of this very nicely paced mystery novel set amongst the palms and nutters of LaLaLand. Now I'll have to find a copy of Maracotta's first book!

Lindsay Maracotta's well-plotted, hilarious and knowing Playing Dead takes us into the lush Hollywood world of "Keeping Up with the Moguls" where nannies can get their own saunas and famous child actors have bodyguards at private schools that look like ducal palaces. A devotee of vintage clothing, animator Lucy Freers is married to a suddenly-wealthy producer and she's trying to keep their lives at an even keel. Fat chance! Their humpy male nanny--a former lover--is murdered and police uncover his secret life. Soon after, Lucy is inexorably drawn into the cartoonish and cruel world of child actors and their wildly avaricious parents. The writing's snappy, the mystery's exciting, and Maracotta writes superb social satire.

In a remote Los Angeles canyon, someone shoots and kills documentary filmmaker Brandon McKenna, an old college friend of wealthy cartoonist Lucy Freers. Though she is pregnant, Lucy decides to investigate the murder of Brandon, who she recently hired as a nanny to her four-year old daughter. Lucy quickly realizes that Brandon packed very lightly as if he was on the lam. She soon looks at some of Brandon's tapes, including the murder of a casting director by a child. The police ruled that death was an accident due to a fall down a set of stairs. Lucy panics when her daughter informs her the child-killer attends her exclusive school. Since no one wants to accept a cherubic child as a murderer, Lucy knows it is up to her to prove otherwise before the killer strikes again at her or her loved ones. PLAYING DEAD is an interesting Hollywood who-done-it. The story line is fast paced and filled with action. The characters, including the alleged kid-killer, seem genuine. Additionally, the return of Terry Shoe (see THE DEAD CELEB) adds a nice touch to a nicely fashioned amateur sleuth mystery that will gain Lindsay Maracotta new fans.Harriet Klausner