Dame Alice Hits Hollywood (Dame Alice Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Old Hollywood and Beverly Hills, circa 1937.
‎Wrenfield Books (May 23, 2023)
Digital Print length ‏ : ‎ 139 pages

Synopsis

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?

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Guest Post

Movie people. I rarely venture from my village of Copley-on-the-Wold, England, to steer clear of such attention-hungry types. But here I am at a party in Beverly Hills, California, and it seems murder and missing diamonds are on the menu.

Let me catch you up: It’s 1937, and as the world’s bestselling authoress of mysteries, filmmakers are constantly asking to turn my books into dubious gems of the silver screen. Even worse, they try to add song and dance numbers in between the murders! I finally agreed to Lady Irwin’s Diamonds getting the Hollywood treatment, and my New York publisher demanded that I travel to Los Angeles to oversee script changes.

I’d initially refused to go, but then reconsidered: I stood to lose $25,000 if Lady Irwin shut down production, so I packed my tweeds, sailed, and flew west. When I arrived at the Beverly Hills Hotel, however, I found a young woman in a wig and wool skirt impersonating me. Bloody cheek, if you ask me!

To my surprise, though, it turns out that there’s a drink out here named the daiquiri that’s made this visit rather delightful. There’s also sunshine, a balmy breeze, roses, and hibiscus everywhere you turn.

The fake Dame Alice, a girl named Penelope, has quickly apologized, explaining that she works for my American publisher and he insisted she come here in my stead.

Unfortunately,  Penelope has been in Los Angeles for less than 48 hours, and already the film’s star has disappeared. A Harry Winston necklace has been stolen. A local mobster, Louie Malone, wants to kill the director, an idiotic young man named Skipper Farley.

As usual, people expect me to solve the crimes, and I suppose I’ll have to. All of this is happening under the menacing glare of a horrid gossip columnist, Hattie Holiday, who I know from my younger days in London, and everyone I meet keeps suggesting I visit the hair salon, buy new dresses, and swipe on some lipstick.

On the plus side, I do enjoy a nice hotel. And the Brown Derby is rather fun, if silly. And then there’s the Paramount party later tonight—if I can stop a murder, get the film back on track, and find those diamonds. Who knows? Maybe this British dame will set her next book right here in glamorous Hollywood. Watch out, Philip Marlowe!

About the Author

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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