Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in Hollywood in 1922, this outstanding series launch from O'Donovan (Dublin Dead) puts a fictional spin on the real-life murder of film director William Desmond Taylor. Querulous movie producer Mack Sennett (of Keystone Cops fame) hires transplanted Irishman Tom Collins, a former New York City cop, to prove that Mabel Normand, Mack's star and former paramour, is innocent of shooting Taylor. But Mack is not the only one putting pressure on Tom; the death of a mid-level dope dealer brings him to the attention of a burgeoning gangster. Tom visits glamorous nightclubs and opulent restaurants, as well as dives and dope dens-all depicted with an acute eye for detail-along the way to the breathtaking and satisfying conclusion. O'Donovan skillfully portrays an evolving city that is shaped and indeed ruled by the movie industry. The characters, too, are drawn with precision, be they society dames, hop heads, movie stars, or studio executives. Readers will hope this marks the start of a long-running series. Agent: Broo Doherty, David Headley Literary Agency (U.K.). (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Hollywood, 1922. A film director is dead, and investigator Tom Collins is hired by the studio chief, Mack Sennett, to find out whodunit. Sennett's concern is whether his leading lady, Mabel Normand, had something to do with it. Film buffs will soon see that the novel, which we can only hope is the first in a series, is based on a real murder mystery. Director William Desmond Taylor really was killed in 1922, and Normand was treated as a suspect. Sennett, producer of the Keystone Cops comedies, was concerned he would lose not only his star, but also possibly his studio itself, if Normand were to be implicated in a crime. Fast paced and with a good sense of time and place (not to mention seamless integration of fictional and factual elements), the novel represents a change of pace for O'Donovan, whose previous work (Dublin Dead, 2012) has been grittier and set in the present. For fans of mysteries set in Hollywood's early days, like Mary Miley's Silent Murders (2014) and Edward Wright's While I Disappear (2004), this one's a sure thing.--Pitt, David Copyright 2018 Booklist
Kirkus Review
O'Donovan (Dublin Dead, 2012, etc.) rolls out a brand-new sleuth just in time to toss him into a fictionalization of the second-hottest real-life murder case of Jazz Age Hollywood.Still reeling from the fallout over the trial of Fatty Arbuckle for complicity or worse in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe, Mack Sennett wants no scandal to darken the gates of the Famous Players-Lasky studio. So when star director William Desmond Taylor's fatal heart attack turns out to have been caused by (oops) a bullet in the back, Sennett demands that freelance operative Tom Collins get in contact with Sennett's biggest star, comedienne Mabel Normand, to make sure that whatever involvement she has in the case stays out of the press and out of the courtroom. It's a tough assignment, because Normand, who's clearly up to her eyeballs in cocaine, has gone into seclusion. Even after Tom tracks her down, she refuses to talk to him, and later she tells Sennett she won't come back to work unless he lets Tom go. That leaves Tom nothing to do but get hounded by Aloysius Devlin, the rotten apple who followed Tom out from the NYPD to become Deputy Chief of the Port of San Pedro, and Tony Cornero, a high-level bootlegger who's just as interested as Sennett in enforcing silence. While Devlin and Cornero take turns bullying Tom and framing him for Taylor's murder, the obligatory celebrity cameos parade across the stage, although neither Taylor's neighbor Edna Purviance nor Mary Pickford wannabe Mary Miles Minter actually puts in an appearance. Everyone's drinking, everyone's using, and most everyone seems to be Irish.Given the high readings on the corruption meter, the final revelations are bound to be anticlimactic. But O'Donovan, who's clearly done his homework, has fun amid the fleshpots of 1922 Hollywood, and like-minded fans will too. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Tensions are high and rumors are a dime a dozen when Tom Collins is called in to investigate the murder of Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor. It's 1922, and the rich and powerful are still abuzz about the Fatty Arbuckle trials, but now the newspapers smell a fresh scandal in the making. Collins, a cop-turned-PI, works for the studios and is tasked with clearing the name of Taylor's fiancée, film star Mabel Normand. Things go from bad to worse as old enemies from Collins's past reemerge and he must deal with misdirection and lies. His hands are full as he tries to untangle this deathly mess. VERDICT Based on the real-life (and still unsolved) 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor, O'Donovan's (Dublin Dead) historical series launch is sprinkled with cameos by iconic stars such as Gloria Swanson, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford, and filled with deliciously evil villains and glamorous backdrops. A winner with fans of Old Hollywood.-Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
