Are you ready for a glamorous mystery from Hollywood’s golden era involving vengeful Nazi housemaids? I can help you with that.
Los Angeles, 1938. Former aspiring actress Lillian Frost is adjusting to a new life of boldfaced names and endless glamour as social secretary to a movie-mad millionaire. Costume designer Edith Head is running Paramount Pictures’ wardrobe department—though her position is precarious and her eight Academy Awards are far in her future.
Lillian recently attended a swanky Manhattan dinner party at which well-heeled guests insulted Adolf Hitler. Now, a vengeful housemaid with Nazi sympathies has all New York society running for cover—and two Paramount stars, Jack Benny and George Burns, facing smuggling charges.
Lillian tries to lay low while the studio is in an uproar over the scandal, but she has no such luck. Edith asks Lillian to look into the disappearance of Jens Lohse, the émigré pianist in Marlene Dietrich’s budding nightclub act, as a favor to Dietrich. Lillian reluctantly agrees, and soon finds him—dead.
Dietrich blames agents of the Reich for his murder, and Lillian investigates further. Could Hollywood—thought to be a safe place for German exiles and émigrés—be hiding a sinister Nazi element beneath its glitzy veneer?
As Lillian and Edith unravel intrigue that extends from Paramount’s Bronson Gate to FDR’s Oval Office, only one thing is certain: they’ll do it in style.
THE TASK: We have two copies to give away! I’m going to pick the winners at random, but please comment and tell us your favorite old school murder mystery movie.
THE RULES: All entries must be posted in the comments of this post by 9 p.m. Pacific time on Friday. FYI, if this is the first time you’ve commented here, the system will automatically kick you into comment moderation, but don’t worry, I will rescue you. (Prizing courtesy of the publisher. Open to residents of the United States only. Thank you!)
