Reel Murder: A Talk Radio Mystery

Reel Murder - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat `It was giving me a little chill to think that the murderer was probably right here on the set with us. It had to be someone connected with the Death Watch production, didn't it? So many possibilities. I'd narrowed them down in my mind, turning them over and over, and outside of Frankie Domino - who still was the mystery man - all of them had a motive for killing Adriana. Sidney Carter had Adriana to thank for his ruined career. There was no love lost between Sandra Michaels and Adriana, that much was clear. Carla hated Adriana, and blamed her for the loss of a lucrative book deal. And Hank Watson? Adriana's death certainly paved the way for his young girlfriend, Tammilynne, to step into the starring role. And if Adriana really had been having an affair with Lori's husband, maybe the actress would have been angry enough to kill her. My head was reeling, and Nick interrupted my jumbled thoughts.' Maggie Walsh is a Cypress Grove, Florida talk show psychologist. Her mother Lola is an aging actress still waiting to be noticed by an A-list producer. Hopefully, someone will notice her as she plays a part in a movie being produced in Cypress Grove called Death Watch. Maggie is invited to serve as a script consultant for the show, working mainly with by Sandra Michaels in her part as a forensic psychologist. As Maggie, the director and assistant director watch the scene taking place on the water's edge between Adriana St. James, the leading lady, meets with the killer Jeff Walker, the unthinkable happens. When Walker pulls the trigger of the prop gun, Adriana falls but the blood flowing from the wound is not prop blood. It's real. As Maggie starts her own investigation in the death of Adriana, she finds the wasn't the most fondly thought of person on the set. It seemed that everyone Maggie met had nothing but bad things to say about Adriana, making everyone a suspect. This is my second book in the Maggie Walsh series that I've read. The 1st in the series is titled "Dead Air." And it kept me going to the end. When I read a mystery, I like to see how quickly I can discover the guilty party. I usually make a note of the page number that I'm on when I make my decision. Sometimes I have to change that number many times before the end of the book. With Reel Murder, I had no clue until page #268 and this book is only 292 pages long! Mary Kennedy kept me in suspense that long! As in Dead Air, you will find humor as well as excitement and fast page turning. Osbidian Mystery June 2010 292 pages ISBN #978-0-451-23084-3

Maggie gave up her well paying private practice as a clinical psychologist in Manhattan to host a radio show On The Couch With Maggie on WYME in Cypress Grove, Florida. Her show is below the bottom rung of the station; under the Swine Report. Most A list guests do not want to travel to the small hamlet, but a movie is coming to town thanks to director Hank Watson and Maggie's mother Lola Watson has a role. The producer of Maggie's show thinks her ratings will jump if she gets the movie stars to come on the air with her. Maggie agrees to try to obtain interviews and learn what gossip is being tossed about. Hank asks Maggie to be a forensic consultant and she agrees as she can use the fee he offers her. Trouble occurs when someone shoots and kills the star Adriana St. James using a prop gun. Maggie investigates and learns that the actress was universally hated by all. Meanwhile someone does not like Maggie's sleuthing and sends her warning notes to back off or else. She is fortunate not to get killed when a prop light falls on the chair she just vacated and her mother is lured into an empty warehouse where she is almost is killed. Neither the sexy police detective or Maggie knows who the killer is, but the perp plans to keep it that way even if a second victim is needed. The latest "Talk Radio" amateur sleuth (see Dead Air) is an amusing mystery with quirky characters and several suspects with powerful motives. Occurring on a movie set, intrepid but foolish Maggie investigates and does so in a believable manner befitting a forensic psychologist. Readers will enjoy reading Mary Kennedy's lighthearted whodunit as the heroine charms readers who will want her to conduct more future inquiries. Harriet Klausner