The Secret on Set - The Hayley Mysteries, Book 3

Well, I've reached the third final book in The Hayley Mysteries series.  This has been an enjoyable little series, and while aimed at early readers, it has still presented some fairly well-plotted mysteries that, I have no doubt, will make its intended audience really think to figure out.  The main character and her supporting cast are fleshed out nicely, and by the end of this book, you definitely have a feel for them (and find yourself wishing more stories were to be told!).  And the author, Hayley LeBlanc, is a social media star, and at only fourteen years old, she has already garnered a small level of "fame."  Whether she fully wrote these stories or simply developed the characters and plots, while others ghost-wrote the mysteries, we will likely never know - but it doesn't change the fact that the books are fun to read.

The Secret on Set has Hayley and her best friends (and co-stars in the show, Sadie Solves It) are preparing to film the Halloween episode of their series.  The producers have snagged a special guest star for the episode - Alex Vangoth, who is a widely celebrated actor, known mostly for the television show in which he plays a vampire.  Hayley is certain he will be playing a vampire in this episode, but neither she nor her friends are able to know for sure, since Alex manages to constantly avoid them, remaining aloof when he is forced to interact with them.  To make matters more stressful, a well-dressed man that Hayley is certain is a television exec begins appearing on the set, and she wonders if he has heard about the trouble they have previously had (in the last two books) and is considering cancelling the show.

And that's when things start happening.  Items of clothing disappear from the wardrobe department.  Food goes missing from the craft services table.  Props are moved around on set just prior to filming.  Schedule changes are misplaced and not given out, causing actors to miss their call times.  And the newest production assistant, Kara, seems to be in the middle of everything, as she has been spotted in several places where the incidents have occurred.  She insists she is innocent, but after one too many mishaps, she is fired from the show.  Hayley, Cody, and Aubrey believe Kara, and they begin to look for clues that will lead them to the real culprit.  Is is Alex Vangoth, who is unhappy about having to do this show?  Is it the TV exec that Hayley has seen, wanting to see the show fail?  Could it have anything to do with the super-secret movie that is being filmed in complete secrecy just a few sound stages away?  Or is there someone else prowling around in the sound stage?

 

Oh, and what about the disappearing dead bodies?!   Yes, you heard that right.  Hayley pretty much stumbles across a body in an empty sound stage, but when she brings back security, the body is gone.  Then a second body is discovered and disappears.  And a third.   There is definitely something strange going on, and Hayley and her friends are dead-set on finding out what it is!

 

I have to wonder what further adventures Hayley, Cody, and Aubrey could have had if this series had continued.  The idea of a teen sleuth who is also a television star is somewhat different (we've had nurse sleuths, stewardess sleuths, theatre sleuths, sister sleuths, brother sleuths, reporter sleuths, and so on, but I can't think off-hand of a sleuth who was also a television star, unless you count the Whitman authorized editions from back in the day), and having mysteries set in and around a movie studio could have had countless opportunities for mysteries to pop-up!  But, alas, we shall never know, as The Hayley Mysteries seems to have been retired after this third entry.  What a shame...

 

RATING:  9 empty coffins out of 10 for a great case of mistaken identity, disappearing bodies, and sabotage all rolled into one!