Jason 3-D: A Comprehensive Expose on Friday the 13th Part 3

Of the twelve Friday the 13th films (including Freddy v. Jason), the third installment rates pretty close to the bottom in my book. Yes, it will always hold a special place in my heart as the first Friday the 13th film I ever actually saw in the theater, having seen the first two movies on cable television.  Yes, I can still remember my Dad taking me and my best friend at the time to the small theater out on Dixie Highway in front of the K-Mart to see the film.  Yes, the 3-D effects in the films were done well enough that a couple of times in the movie I unashamedly raised my hand to ward off the clothes-line pole or to try and touch the handle of the pitchfork that was stick out towards me.  Yes, I did like the final girl of the film, who was not only pretty and smart, but she proved herself capable of overcoming her fear to brandish that final death blow to Jason Voorhees' head with an ax.  Despite all of that, the film just has too many plot holes, too many inconsistencies, and too bad of acting for me to consider it a great movie.  However, after author R.G. Henning's retrospective look at Friday the 13th, Part 2, I had to pick up his comprehensive expose on the third film to see if he could give me some idea as to why so many fans of the series seem to love this movie.

 

Jason 3-D: A Comprehensive Expose on Friday the 13th Part 3 provides considerably more details about the film, its actors, its directors, and its history than Peter M. Bracke's Crystal Lake Memories.  While Bracke's book does a fantastic job of looking at the first eleven films, with countless interviews from so many of the actors, directors, producers, and other behind-the-scenes people, Henning, in this book, narrows down the scope to just this one film.  As with his prior book (Sackhead), which dug deep into the first sequel, this book goes in-depth into the second sequel and its enormous impact on the series as a whole.  While Part 2 introduced film-goers and fans to Jason Voorhees as a somewhat crazed adult seeking revenge for the death of his mother, Part 3 established Jason as not only a one-man killing machine, but created the iconic look of the deformed, bald-headed killer hiding behind a hockey mask.  And just like in his previous retrospective, Henning gives readers story details for each of the characters, detailed descriptions of the various victims (and survivor!), interviews with many of the cast members, lots of photos and fun facts, and some well-thought-out answers to questions that have plagued fans for years.

 

I give Henning credit - he does acknowledge that this film, despite its fan-following and the love that so many seem to have for it, is the worst of the first four films (which all center around a more "human" Jason Voorhees, before he is revived as a zombie in Part VI).  Despite having some great looking actors, the actual acting itself leaves a lot to be desired, and the film seems to focus more on the visual 3-D effects that were the big thing at the time than on any of the acting skills of its cast.  He also acknowledges the number of plot holes and inconsistencies in the story (such as how Jason's attack on Chris in the woods several years prior shows him in the same appearance as he is in this movie - bald! - while in Part 2, which supposedly took place just two days prior to the events in this film, Jason had long hair; and how could Chris imagine/dream Mrs. Voorhees coming out of the lake to grab her, when she had no idea who Mrs. Voorhees was; and how come Jason's face changes visually throughout the film [thanks to three different face molds]; and so many other things).  So, since he notices the same exact things in this film that I did, how in the world can this be such a popular film in the series' mythos?

 

Henning answers that question in this book, and after considering everything he lays out amid the behind-the-scenes discussions, the fan reactions, and the cast interviews, it all seems to come down to this one fact - despite the bad acting, despite the careless story, despite the focus on the 3-D effects, there is one thing this film does manage to do very successfully: Part 3 defined Jason Voorhees in both look and character, firmly establishing his presence for the rest of the series.  And looking back at the film, I have to agree.  Despite all of its flaws, actor Richard Brooker's portrayal of Jason definitely cemented his character, defining not only the hockey-mask appearance, but also moving him beyond just the "young child in a man's body crying out for revenge over his mother's death" motivation.  In this film, Henning points out that Jason becomes determined, he becomes purposeful, and he even becomes emotional (such as the scene where his frustration has him throwing aside boxes and bales of hay searching for Chris in the barn).  In this film, Jason actually HAS character, something that does not get further evolution until Part VII, when Kane Hodder takes over the role and becomes the consummate Jason Voorhees.  And in so thinking, I have begun to open my mind a little bit more to the film and have decided to go back and re-watch it (yet again!) with a new perspective.

 

The interviewed provided some surprising information - such as the fact that Catherine Parks is originally from Orlando, Florida and graduated from University of South Florida - my current home state and my alma mater!  I wish I had known that when I met her some years ago at a Spooky Empire, as I would have loved to have talked to her about that.  The interviews also revealed that both Paul Kratka and David Katims both had roles on General Hospital before landing parts in Friday the 13th Part 3!  Of course, I was not watching GH back then, but I'd be curious to see their scenes from the soap to see just how different they appeared than in the movie!  And the fact that many of these actors were newbies to the industry when they took these roles, and many of them also left Hollywood not long after the film to pursue careers as doctors, lawyers, journalists, and other "professional" careers.  Sadly, several of the actors have since died (Richard Brooker, Gloria Charles, Steve Susskind), so I'll never have the opportunity to meet any of them.

 

I love Henning's careful look at some of the unanswered questions about the film, and his very plausible explanations and answers - such as, did Jason sexually assault Chris in the flashback scene?  Why did he not kill her back then?  Is Jason right-handed or left-handed (which seems to change from film to film)?  Whose blood-soaked clothing did Chris find in the upstairs bathroom?  Where did Chuck and Chili get the pot they smoked at the house, when they ate it all in the van when they thought the police were after them?  How did the biker gang find Higgins Haven (and know that's where Shelly and Vera had come from)?  Why did the newscaster at the beginning refer to the murderer as an "ax-wielding killer," when Jason never killed anyone with an ax in the second film? And one thing I don't recall ever noticing, but which Henning brought up in this book - why is it the name of Jason Voorhees is never mentioned anywhere in this film?  It played such an important part of the ending of the first film, and was the main focus of the second film; yet, despite how important this film was to the enduring legacy of the character, not one time in this film is his name said.  Just another reason to go back and watch the film!

 

One important fact Henning does bring out about this film, something that I have always thought was glossed over, is that the character of Debbie, played by Tracey Savage, was pregnant.  It is made clear several times in the film (with Debbie refusing to smoke weed or drink alcohol due to her pregnancy), so the fact that Jason murders her while she lies in the hammock with the dead body of her boyfriend (the unborn child's father) hanging above her in the rafters is much more horrific, as it means that Jason not only murdered an adult woman, but he also killed her unborn child.  In Part 2, he unceremoniously swings a machete into the face of a man in a wheelchair, and now in Part 3, he without remorse shoves a knife through the neck of a mother-to-be.  It definitely establishes a practice and pattern that anyone can be a potential victim of Jason Voorhees. 

 

So, to my friends Wayne, and Marcus, and David, who all just LOVE Friday the 13th Part 3 - you can thank R.G. Henning for making me take another look at this film from a different perspective and give it a chance I've never given it up till now.

 

RATING:  10 iconic hockey-masks out of 10 for once again giving fans an outstandingly well-researched and fact-filled look at this long-enduring fan-favorite film of the series.

Ripped to Shreds - a retro-'80s horror graphic novelization

I am a HUGE fan of '80s horror/slasher flicks.  Ever since I watched my first Friday the 13th film on cable TV back in the early '80s, I was hooked.  As the years went by, I watched every slasher film I could get my hands on - Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine, Terror Train, New Year's Evil, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Happy Birthday to Me, Final Exam, The Funhouse, Chopping Mall, and the list goes on.  Some were great, some were good, some were bad, and some were just plain awful. The love of this genre has continued on till today, with films like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Happy Death Day, Wrong Turn, and so on - but, honestly, nothing compares to the zany stories that made up those '80s films.  I mean, anyone who has ever seen the Sleepaway Camp films knows exactly what I'm talking about.  So, when I saw the Kickstarter for this graphic novel, there was no doubt that I was going to get it.

 

Ripped to Shreds is a love letter to fans of those '80s slasher films.  In fact, it was originally supposed to BE one of those '80s slasher films!  Ripped to Shreds is based upon a screenplay written by Michael Johnson, which was initially advertised to begin filming in late 1980.  Unfortunately, the project remained in what is affectionately referred to in Hollywood as "development hell" for three years, and ultimately it was scrapped, thought to become just another in a long line of "lost" slasher films never to be made.  Flash forward more than forty years later, and a collector happened to come across the one and only surviving copy of the Ripped to Shreds script - a copy that Apostrophe Comics has brilliantly turned into a beautifully bound, fantastically drawn, and superbly scripted graphic novel that captures the true essence of the film and the genre!  Adapted by Scott Alan Gregory (writer), Thiago Motta (illustrator), and Karla Aguilar (colorist), the graphic novel is the ultimate must-have for die-hard fans of 1980s' slashers!

 

The story is actually a mix of elements that would have turned out an amazingly great film!  An opening flashback to a campfire, where teens are getting drunk, and where three girls take off in a car, only to pick up a lone hitchhiker - a man who slashes them with his metal claw, causing them to crash - and only one girl survives!  Years later (the present - 1980s), another group of teens are around a campfire, talking about the legend of the clawed killer and the fatal car crash.  Some people believe if you drive that same road at night, the ghost of the murdered girls will appear in your car and force you off the road.  Needless to say, one young couple have to put the legend to the test - and they pay the price for it.

 

The two main characters - Madeline (modeled after Lauren Marie-Taylor from Friday the 13th, Part 2) and Richard (modeled after Russell Todd from Friday the 13th, Part 2) set about to uncover the truth.  Is the legend true?  Is there a clawed killer our there?  Or did their friends merely die as a a result of a freak accident?  Like any good slasher movie, there are any number of suspects - the suspicious gardener who is uber-religious and is keeping his daughter (the only survivor of that original accident all those years ago) captive in her own home; the juvenile crime detective, who seems to have an unhealthy interest in the investigation and the teens; or even that girl who survived the original crash, whose mind is now fractured.  Before you can say "booze, sex, and drugs," the bodies start to pile up, ripped to shreds by that deadly claw (hence, the title!), and Scott and Vickie ... er, I mean Madeline and Richard have to work harder to uncover the truth.

 

Fans will enjoy the ultimate revelation and backstory, as you learn the truth about what really happened all those years ago and who was really at fault for the death of those girls.  Madeline gets a fantastic final girl battle against the killer in a darkened house, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her (she was, after all, in the shower when the lights went out!).  I love the ingenuity the character uses to lure the killer into a deadly trap, so just when you think he has her, she turns the tables and kills the killer!  There is a nice wrap-up scene as Richard accompanies Madeline in the ambulance to the hospital, explaining to her the truth about the killer identity and why the murders were taking place ... only to get that one final shock at the end - a surprising twist that would have left the door open for a sequel (of course, that would have necessitated the first film ever being made in the first place!).  

 

The hardcover book contains no only the full adaptation of the script, but plenty of special features in the back to make you feel like you were enjoying a DVD / BluRay version of the story.  From an interview with the original screenplay writer, Michael Johnson, to interviews with both actors (Russell Todd and Lauren Marie-Taylor) about their involvement in the project, to production designs of the killer claw, as well as commentary about the overall production of the graphic novel, character design pages, and a cover gallery.   

 

This book deserves the greatest of all accolades for successfully bringing back a 1980s film in a format that is both visually and artistically pleasing, and will satisfy any fan's appetite for a "new" '80s slasher!

 

RATING:  10 mutilated bodies hanging upside down out of 10 for a true '80s classic - the perfect horror / slasher flick that, sadly, was never made!

The Mystery of the Brobdingnagian Beast - the Second (new) Three Investigators Mystery

It has taken me a few months, but I finally picked up the second book in this new series of The Three Investigators.  Elizabeth Arthur, the daughter of Robert Arthur (the writer of the original series), and her husband, Steven Bauer, are clearly trying to re-establish these characters and this series in the 21st century, and it is evident from the stories that they are making certain changes in the hope to appeal to today's readers.  In some ways, I am fine with that.  Obviously, the use of technology (cell phones, internet, etc.) makes obvious sense, since kids today would likely not know how to function without these things.  But other changes, such as the change in heritage for each of the investigators, feel forced and unnecessary, as if the authors are making the changes simply to show that Pete, Jupiter, and Bob are not simply "white, American boys."  Whatever the reason, I hope the authors move away from the constant emphasis on their family heritage and move back to what made these stories great back in the day - the great mysteries and the fun interaction between the boys!

 

The Mystery of the Brobdingnagian Beast picks up not long after the conclusion of the first mystery.  The three boys are excited at the prospect of receiving money from Isabella Change, for whom they helped clear up some mysteries surrounding her family's past (and find some long-lost gold in the process!) - see the previous book, The Mystery of the Abecedarian Academy.  They have ideas on how to not only save that money for college, but to use part of it to buy a car and hire a chauffeur (since their time with Worthington was now over).  But fate has a way of keeping these boys busy, and before the first chapter is over, Pete's father, who is working a set construction supervisor for a historical film about John Fremont, and his impact on California and the old west, wants Pete, Bob, and Jupiter to come visit the set with him to help solve a mystery.  It seems ever since a man named Daniel Hernandez has published a book that disputes the claims of Dr. Phillipa Paxton, upon whose book the film is based, the movie has been plagued with problems.  Small mishaps, such as stolen equipment and break-ins, have been happening, and there is a group known as OUTLAW (Outing Lawbreakers from Past Centuries) that has been loudly protesting at the film site.  The Three Investigators are only more than happy to look into it!

 

From the beginning, it is not really hard to see who is causing all the problems, and even the three boys are fairly certain who the criminal is - it's just a matter of proving it.  Thus, the mystery is focused less on who is committing the crimes and more on how and why he is committing the crimes.  John Fremont, who is the central figurehead of the mystery, was a real person (January 21, 1813 - July 13, 1980), and as related in the book, he did, with the help of Kit Carson, explore the new country, deep into the western area - and, just like stated in the book, there was an incident where three unarmed men were murdered by Carson and a couple of other men, and it still remains a mystery today whether they murdered the men of their own volition, or if it were on the orders of Fremont.  Elizabeth Arthur and her husband use this as the focal point of their mystery, as Dr. Paxton is said to have two letters in her possession from Kit Carson that exonerate Fremont, while Hernandez has a letter that lays the blame right at Fremont's feet.  Someone has a forged letter, and it is up the Three Investigators to figure out who.

 

Not all of the historical information in the book is on point, however, so one has to be careful to take all of the "history" given in the story as factual.  While Mallory (remember that Scottish girl the boys met in the first book?) tells Pete that John Fremont's wife made a bear flag for him as a present, measuring 15 feet by 20 feet; however, the legend is that his wife made him a flag with an eagle in the upper corner, which Fremont carried with him on his first expedition into Wyoming.  Thus, Arthur and Bauer fudge the facts a little bit to keep in theme with the mystery (and her alleged 15 x 20 flag does play an important part of the mystery, as the boys are commissioned with locating someone who supposedly has a replica of the flag, which, when they find it, turns out to be the original and not a copy!).

 

I did enjoy the reference that Pete makes to "an old science fiction TV show he'd seen a couple of times on late night TV" (p. 157); although, I'm not sure if I like the idea that it is considered an "OLD" science fiction show!  Pete describes it as "a show in which the aliens looked just like regular human beings, though if you ripped off their skin, they were really lizards underneath" (p. 157). That's a great way of describing the NBC television show V without actually naming it. Again, I just hate the idea that the show is labeled as "old" (although, looking at the facts, the show did come out in 1984, which was over forty years ago now!).  Yet, despite omitting the name to this show, Arthur and Bauer had no problem name-dropping Jurassic Park, The Terminator, The Fifth Element, and The Deer Hunter as movies Pete had seen with his father.

 

I also agree with the authors' view on news reporting, which is expressed by Mr. Andrews (Bob's father) when he and Bob's mother are discussing how everything has become politicized - from teaching at universities to news reporting.  "News reporting at least used to try to be objective, but now every article reads as though it belongs on the Opinion page," he says, going to say that journalists "need to work as hard as we can to present facts, not opinions - to stick to the objective truth" (p. 197).  Mrs. Andrews even pipes in with the comment that "Anything else is basically propaganda" (p. 197).  This is clearly a commentary on the state of teaching and reporting in today's society, and quite frankly, I could not agree more.

 

What I do have to question about the authors' choices, though, is the imprinting of previously never stated ethnic backgrounds for the boys.  As we learned in the first book, Bob's mother is Chinese, and people have sometimes commented that they see it in Bob's eyes.  In this book, we learn that Jupiter's mother had been Serbian, and, thus, he was able in this mystery to determine that a particular character was Serbian and how to pronounce his name (p. 125).  We also find out that Pete's father is Mexican-American (p. 90).  The author's webpage (The Salvage Yard) reveals that she wanted to build upon the boy's backgrounds, to more fully flesh out the characters as befitting of the "melting pot" nature of America, and therefore, Bob, Jupiter, and Pete suddenly have a mixture of ethnic heritages.  Unfortunately, the expression of these ethnicities feels forced and does not read naturally within the stories.  Nor does the fact that Pete's family is Catholic, yet his mother is caught up in "other interpretations of the invisible world" (p. 1), such as I Ching, serve any real purpose.  I am all for diversity, and I love for the stories I read to represent the reality of different people that exist in our world; but I am not overly thrilled when new authors take existing characters and change them simply for the sake of wanting to promote "diversity."  If there were a compelling reason to reveal these "new" backgrounds (say, for instance, a mystery was to take the boys to Serbia, where they had to solve a mystery involving one of Jupiter's distant relatives), that would be one thing.  But imprinting the boys with these new backgrounds without reason feels unnecessary and forced.

 

Oh, for those wondering about the title - the word "Brobdingnagian" comes from the book, Gulliver's Travels, which Mallory reads during the course of the story.  "Gulliver goes to another country called Brogdingnag, which has a race of giants, and where everyone is huge," she tells the boys (p. 87).  At the end, when Bob is trying to come up with a "B" word to go with Bear or Beast, Pete suggests the name.  Bob likes it, commenting, "in a way, it's been there all the time ... something large and menacing..." (p. 310). 

 

Aside from that, the mystery itself was fairly entertaining, and the boys do retain their natural instincts for working together to solve a crime.  I have the third book in the series (I bought the first three at one time when they came out), and I'm going to give the series another chance - but, to be completely honest, I'm not really overwhelmed by the stories, and they do not have the same feel that the originals had.  The next book will determine whether I continue buying and reading the books, or whether I shelve these alongside the originals and simply re-read the originals for my TI fix!

 

RATING:  7  Ghost-to-Ghost hookup e-mails out of 10 for navigating the worlds of movie-making, history, publishing, and social media and mixing them into a relatively enjoyable mystery to read!

The Summer of the Great Secret - the second Romney Marsh story

I honestly cannot recall where I got this particular book - I think, perhaps, it was a book my friend picked up at a library book sale at the library where she works (but I cannot guarantee that).  However this book came to be in my possession, I can say it was the title that caught my attention.  Obviously, based on the publisher (Collins), I knew it was going to be a British publication, and, therefore, the story was likely to be set in England (and it was).  The edition I have is from the early 1960s, but a little research online reveals the story was first published back in 1948 - which does explain some of the questions I had regarding the girls' complete lack of knowledge regarding film making in the story.  I also discovered that this book is actually the second in a series of stories by author Monica Edwards (I'll get more into that later...)

 

The Summer of the Great Secret reads almost like a mish-mash of various series book stories.  It's a story about a girl's love of horses and an accident that leaves her unable to walk and possibly never ride again; it's also the story of a group of smugglers who are accidentally revealed by two young girls playing around on an old, weathered shipwreck; in addition, it's the story of a town excited about a film crew coming to make a movie in their sleepy little village; if that weren't enough, there's also a short tale of a haunted house; and it's the story of a mysterious greasy man whose true intentions are suspect.  While these four stories may sound completely unrelated, author Monica Edwards manages to weave them all together in one somewhat enjoyable story.  (No, it's not the most exciting book I've ever read, but it does have some good moments and fun adventures in it, and the movie making scenes remind me much of the Moving Picture Girls books.)

 

The main characters in the book are Tamzin Grey and Charissa ("Rissa") Birnie, best friends who share a love of horses and a sense of adventure.  While swimming in the bay, they decide to jump off the wreckage of an old ship that had long ago come to rest on the shore - but Rissa accidentally falls through the deck into the level below, where the girls unexpectedly find boxes of liquor and perfume!  Realizing the ship was being used as a hiding place for smugglers, the girls soon learn that the smugglers are none other than men in the village with whom they are very familiar.  They promise to keep the secret, even from their own parents, and soon become messengers of sort for the criminal fishermen.  While this story is developing, readers learn that Lesley Frampton, a friend of Tamzin and Rissa, is out west, recovering from an injury that has left her paralyzed.  Lesley is set to come back for a visit, and she is anxious to see her pony, Cascade, who now belongs to Tamzin.  Ultimately, it is this visit and Cascade who give Lesley the fire to walk again!

 

The book weaves back and forth among the various plots, an an incident with a car being caught in the high tide leads to the girls meeting a movie producer - a producer who comes back to their small town because his film studio wants to do a movie there.  Tamzin's father, who is the town vicar, is called upon as a historical advisor for the film, and Tamzin, Rissa, and even Cascade are all given parts in the film!  Of course, while all of this is going on, the authorities have also come to town, looking to smoke out the smugglers.  Tamzin and Rissa keep their word and say nothing (which is a bit on the unbelievable side, as the authorities do not take any action against the girls, even though both admit they know the smugglers, but will not give up their names - in the real world, they would tell or face some severe consequences!).  Along the way, a "greasy man" as Tamzin describes him comes to town looking for information on the smugglers - his identity, and his fate, are ultimately revealed to be something less than stellar by the end of the book.  (And why is it that villains are never described as handsome or beautiful; they are also greasy with horrific facial features?)

 

The book is illustrated by Anne Bullen, who provides 19 internal line illustrations (nearly one for every chapter).  Bullen is known for illustrating books about ponies, but she and her husband also bred ponies.  Her illustrative work was mostly for Collins.  She did the full colour dust jackets for the first four books by Monica Edwards, but I can't be sure she provided the art for the edition that I have (1963), as the book gives no credit to the cover artist.  Apparently, though, Edwards was not overly thrilled with the humans in Bullen's illustrations, and after The Midnight Horse, published in 1949, Edwards' books were illustrated by a different artist.  (Anne Bullen, Artist)

 

The book has gone through several editions over the years, and with it, the cover art has changed (although three out of the four covers focus on Tamzin and her horse, Cascade - the fourth book features the smuggling aspect of the story).  My edition, the first cover shown above, has both Tamzin and Rissa - Tamzin wth her horse, Rissa with her bicycle. Another edition features the two girls with Cascade, with another has Rissa with a chestnut colored pony.  The later, paperback Armada printing has Tamzin and Rissa coming out of the boat with one of the smugglers helping them up onto the wharf.  

 

Now, with respect to the series of which this book is a part, it turns out Edwards wrote fifteen books in a series of novels about "Romney Marsh."  The first book, Wish for a Pony, was published in 1947 (one year before the original publication of this one), and features Tamzin and Rissa in their first adventure.  As the series progresses, the characters age and are joined by other new characters, and by book fifteen, the stories become much more mature in nature (as the last book deals with one of Tamzin's friends becoming blind and having to deal with the emotional trauma associated therewith).  Apparently the stories are based upon real people in Edwards' life (Tamzin's father being based upon Edwards' father, who was a reverend) and the locations were very real, simply renamed.  While this story was somewhat enjoyable, I don't know that I will actively seek out the other books in the series - if I happen across one, I might pick it up if the price is right; otherwise, this is not a series for which I am anxious to read all the books.

There is one horrible thing that occurs in the book that I simply could not overlook.  One of the smugglers, Jim, has a cat in his home that gives births to kittens.  He offers them to Tamzin and Rissa, and while Rissa declines, Tamzin agrees to take the one tiger-colored kitten.  The remaining kittens?  Well, Jim tosses them out into bay and drowns them all!  I could not believe such a thing would be written into a children's story.  Researching the matter online, it seems back in the day this was a fairly common practice to keep the population of unwanted, stray kittens and puppies down.  I just cannot even imagine such a thing!  Definitely did not raise my opinion of this book by any means... 

 

RATING:  7 cat-related advertisements for fertilizer out of 10 for managing to mix smugglers, ghosts, filmmakers, and sleazy criminals into one story and keeping it coherent enough to read!

V is for Victorine

When I finished reading Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen (Daring Darleen), it was my hope that the "cliffhanger" ending was a sign that another book would be forthcoming.  But each month that went by, and then each year that went by, and I saw no advertisements or solicits for another Darleen Darling book, my chances of getting a sequel seemed less and less likely.  Flash forward several years, and as I was scrolling through Amazon (I seem to do that quite a bit, don't I?), I happened across a book by Anne Nesbet with cover art that seemed awfully familiar.  Well, lo and behold, it turned out the cover seemed familiar, as that girl on it was none other than Daring Darleen, along with that young heiress, Victorine Berryman! Finally, after all this time, I got my long-awaited sequel to Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen!

 

V is for Victorine picks up some time after the conclusion of Anne Nesbet's previous book.  After saving Victorine ("Vee" as Darleen calls her) from unscrupulous people posing as her family in order to steal her inheritance, the Darlings have taken Vee into their home and allowed her to take part in their many films as an extra.  But Vee is not really interested in acting.  With her Grandmother gone and her inheritance still years away, she must rely on a monthly stipend from her granny's estate and the kindness of the Darling family until she can determine exactly what it is she does want.  One thing she knows for sure - she does not like lying, and she is tired of hiding under the assumed name "Bella Mae Goodwin."  She does not even know who she really is any more - is she losing her real identity?  Is Victorine Berryman slowly disappearing?  Well, thank goodness for the silent film serials - for when Darlene and Vee a/k/a Bella Mae go to the local theater to watch the 13th episode of The Vanishing of Victorine (a very fictional account of her life since she disappeared),  a title card appears after the film which provides viewers the opportunity to write the final chapter to the serial and explain just how Victorine's story ends!  Who better to write that story than the missing girl herself!

 

Nesbet offers up another thrilling adventure in the world of the early 1900s (1915 to be exact!), when silent films and serials with their exciting cliffhangers were all the rage.  And while this book does offer up some behind the scenes filming of various movies, Nesbet focuses more on Victorine's efforts to stay under the radar, particularly now that the whole world is looking for her.  In the last book, readers learned all about Darleen and got to experience the world through her adventurous, daring eyes; in this book, we get the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a debutante who is thrust into a normal (well, okay, somewhat normal as can be expected in the world of films) world where every penny is pinched and no one has hired help to answer to their every whim.  And I love the way Nesbet provides Victorine the chance to evolve, not only as a character, but also as a writer - from a shy girl who thinks she has no imagination and no ability to see the world as her best friend, Darlene does into a rather self-aware, strong young woman who realizes the real world around her offers her plenty of fodder for her imagination and her writing!  I think that is a lesson many of us would be well-advised to heed.

 

There is a slight mystery in the story involving a mix-up with a black bag carried by Darleen's uncle as he, Darleen, and Victorine head out to the new-fangled Hollywood (which was only just getting off the ground as a site for film studios in 1915) to see if the Darlings can find a place in this new film world.  Darleen and Victorine are both curious as to the secret "treasure" that Uncle Dan has hidden away in the satchel, and they must match wits with a rather dastardly thief who has his own black bag filled with stolen Egyptian treasures. This sub-plot is superbly resolved in true serial-cliffhanger style, with a surprise mastermind and a dangerous confrontation with a gun-wielding villain.

 

The book is chock-full of real Hollywood and film references - from Miss Mary Pickford (p. 71), a Canadian-American film actress and producer who worked in Hollywood for nearly half a century, to Lillian Gish (p. 128), an American actress who got her start in silent films in 1912 and continued to work in Hollywood all the way to 1987 and her sister, Dorothy Gish (p. 128), who was also an actress of the stage and screen.  The girls are also told about a party for Anna Pavlova, "[a] wonderful Russian ballerina" (p. 145), who also happens to be a real life ballerina who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and who is most well-known for her role of The Dying Swan.  There is also an interesting reference to The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer by Oscar Micheaux (p. 82), which book an African-American train porter asks the girls to give to his sister, Ruth Waller, at Universal studios in Hollywood, with the hopes it might get made into a film. Well, in the real world, the book was made into a film in 1919, the first feature-length film made by an African-American!

Finally, the author also makes mention of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (p. 89), which was a world's fair, of sorts, held in San Francisco during most of 1915 (the year in which this book is set).  The girls talk about their desire to visit the exposition to see "a whole tower simply covered with jewels" (p. 89).  And, wouldn't you know it, there was a "Tower of Jewels" at the exposition, which rose to 435 feet and was covered with over 100,000 colored gems that sparkled in the light of the sun (Tower of Jewels).  It is all of these factual references from the real world that makes Nesbet's story all that more engaging, as it blurs those lines between reality and fiction, breathing some "real life" into the characters on the page.

 

Darleen Darling and Victorine Berryman have become two of my favorite little adventuresses, and I hope Nesbet has not put them on the shelf.  These two girls deserve many more stories and adventures, and I have no doubt there are plenty of fans out there like me who are anxious to read more!

 

RATING:  10 Egyptian cylinder seals out of 10 for making the 1915 silent film world come alive with mystery, adventure, cliffhangers, and all of the excitement one would expect from the movies of that era!

Sackhead: The Definitive Retrospective on Friday the 13th, Part 2

When the film Friday the 13th was first released in 1980, I did not want to go see it (even though my mom was willing to take a pre-teen boy to see the movie, I refused to see a horror movie!).  It was not until 1981, during the summer, that I first saw the film when it was released on cable television.  Even watching it in the middle of the day, the movie made me jump.  Once it was over, I thought that was it.  So, imagine my surprise, when looking through the movie channel guide (yes, way back then, we would get monthly guides from the movie channels, letting us know what movies would be airing that particular month), I happened across airings of a film titled Friday the 13th, Part 2!  Having enjoyed the first film, despite the jump scares and gore, I was anxious to see this second film.  After all, the killer had been beheaded in the first movie, so where could they go from there?  Well, that second film and the introduction of Jason Voorhees as the Crystal Lake killer cemented my love for this series of films.  Now, here we are some forty-plus years and a total of 12 films later, and my love for the Friday the 13th series has only grown.  Books, action figures, multiple versions of DVD box sets, posters, and other assorted collectibles give visible proof of my devotion to the films and characters.  Thus, when I happened across this retrospective while scrolling through Amazon, I did not hesitate to buy it.  After all, Part 2 was the film that gave the world one of the most iconic horror movie killers of all time - Jason!  Ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma...

 

Sackhead: The Definitive Retrospective on Friday the 13th, Part 2 does exactly what the title says it will do - it provides fans with the only, truly in-depth look at the first sequel in the franchise. I'm not familiar at all with the author, R. G. Henning.  His bio on the back cover indicates he created and runs a Facebook forum (Packanack Lodge) that is dedicated solely to the second film.  He also is a talent handler, representing many of the cast members from the movie franchise, which I can imagine must be an utter thrill!  And based on this book, the man clearly knows his stuff.  The amount of information contained in this book just about this one film is staggering.  Yes, the Crystal Lake Memories book by Peter M. Bracke offers an intense look at all of the films (up through Freddy v. Jason); but this book digs deep into just the first sequel, offering interviews with most of the cast, detailed character descriptions, a plethora of photos, tons of fun facts, and some long-awaited answers to questions that have been plaguing fans for decades.

 

The interviews provide some insight into not only the actors themselves, but also into the filming of the movie, the characters, and why the film has become such an important part of the Friday the 13th mythos for fans.  Some of the information is already out there in other sources, such as Steve Dash's feelings about Warrington Gilette being credited as Jason, when Dash actually performed more of the role under the hood; Adrienne King coming back for only a minor scene, partially due to the stalker situation that came to be after the first movie came out; Amy Steel's later regrets about not returning for Part 3; etc.  However, there was a lot of new information to be gleaned from the interviews. I was not aware that Adrienne King did not know her character was going to be killed off when she agreed to do the opening scene; nor that the opening sequence was the last thing filmed, and that the rush of filming it resulted in her near injury with the ice pick that killed Alice.  I was also not aware that Marta Kober was only 16 years old when she did the movie, and so Paramount set certain parameters revolving intimate scenes involving her character (Sandra).  I found it amusing to learn that Jack Marks (who played the deputy) had never driven when he got this part and had to be taught how to drive the police car for his scenes in the film - I also had never paid attention to the fact that his character is never actually named in the movie, and that his name was not established until the Simon Hawke novelization years later.  There is so much more, I could go on for paragraph after paragraph after paragraph!

 

Each chapter focuses on a different actor/character, and Henning opens each chapter with a narrative that provides the reader details about each character and his or her appearance in the film.  These narratives provide some insight into the motivations of the characters, and I'm assuming Henning gleaned some of this from Hawke's novelization (which added details not seen in the movie), or perhaps simply from the actions and dialogue of the characters themselves in the film. At the end of each chapter, Henning addresses a number of questions that fans have raised about seeming inconsistencies or impossible events that happen within the film, and he provides some well-thought out and reasoned answers that, in most cases, make perfect sense.  What happened to Paul Holt at the end of the film - did he survive or was he killed? Why did Jason use the dull side of the machete to kill Scott? Why was Terry killed off-screen, when all the other deaths were filmed? What dog did Jeff and Sandra find mutilated, since Muffy turns up alive and well at the end? Where were Ted and the other surviving counselors at the end of the film? Was Crazy Ralph's death unrealistic and illogically filmed? How did Jason find Alice in her house at the beginning of the film? And how did he know her number to call her (and for that matter, how did he know how to use a phone)? And why did he remove the whistling tea kettle from the stove burner after he killed Alice?  These questions, and more, find answers at long last in this book!

 

As if all of this were not enough, Henning also throws in a number of "Fun Facts" in each chapter, little tidbits about the movie, its actors, and the Friday the 13th series itself that provide an even wider understanding and knowledge for fans to appreciate.  Did you know the working title of the moving during filming was simply "Jason"? Or, were you aware that the name "Ginny Field" was inspired by the original Friday the 13th's art director, Virginia Field? Or even more surprising, that actor Bill Randolph ("Jeff") made another appearance (albeit from the back) in the film after his character was killed? And did you realize that the character of "Mark" was the only handicapped character to ever be killed in the entire franchise?  Henning offers so many more fun tidbits like that that only enhance every fan's knowledge of the Friday the 13th series, and Part 2 in particular.  

I have fortunate enough to meet four of the cast members from the film over the years - Amy Steel, John Furey, Warrington Gillette, and Steve Dash (and Adrienne King, so technically I've met five) - and I hope to someday meet more of them.  This book opened my eyes to just how important this film is to the series as a whole, and it has prompted me to go back and watch the film (for the umpteenth time) with an entirely new perspective.  I mean, let's be serious - how many other films can boast having five different actors portray Jason Voorhees?  This book is a definite must have for any true Friday the 13th fan, and the amount of research that went into the book evidences the love Henning has for the film that only a real fan can understand!

 

RATING:  10 severed heads in a refrigerator out of 10 for providing such detailed and well-researched information about one of the best films in not only this franchise, but perhaps in all slasher film history!

The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms, or Lost in the WIlds of Florida (The Moving Picture Girls No. 4)

The Stratemeyer Syndicate published a number of series under the pen name of author "Laura Lee Hope," and the Moving Picture Girls is just one of them.  The series ran from 1914 to 1916, for a total of seven books.  Original published by Grosset & Dunlap, like so many other series back in the day, it was later reprinted by other publishers, including World Syndicate (which is the editions I have).  Although I have all seven books (in dust jacket, which I consider myself to be fortunate!), I decided to pick up this fourth book in the series, since it is set in Florida.  It has been fun to read all of these children's series books set in Florida and see just how many real references are used and how many fictional settings are created.  Unlike the Outdoor Girls' adventure in Florida, which was littered with one fictional place after another, this series actually utilized a number of actual locations.

The Moving Picture Girls Under the Palms, or Lost in the Wilds of Florida tells the story of Ruth and Alice DeVere's adventures in the Sunshine State with the film company for whom they are employed, along with their father.  In the first chapter, the girls (and the rest of the acting troupe) learn from the company's manager, Frank Pertrell, that they will all be heading to Florida aboard a "steamer" to film their next dramas (p. 4).  Most everyone is excited about the prospect, and Ruth and Alice are even confident that the warm weather of Florida will help improve their father's health (which seems a bit familiar to part of the plot from The Outdoor Girls in Florida).  But right off the bat, things start to go wrong - first, one of the actors falls overboard from the ship, and then a fire in the lower decks forces all of the passengers to be ferried to another steamboat for the remainder of the journey to St. Augustine.

From the moment the troupe arrives in Florida, I perked up and started paying attention to everywhere the girls and their fellow actors went.  The mere mention of arriving in St. Augustine by way of Jacksonville - and their intended travel later down to Lake Kissimmee - well, I was anxious to see what real locales from these places would be mentioned.  Right off the bat, the girls hear about Fort Marion (Historic Fort Marion) and Fort Mantanzas (Historic Fort Mantanzas), two historic sites where the crew would be filming scenes for their movies (p. 66).  And when the girls go exploring, they decide to travel down St. George Street to see the Old City Gates (p. 67), which turns out to be exactly where the gates are located (St. Augustine Old City Gates).  The girls also pay a visit to an orange grove, said to be just a short distance from the city gates (p. 70).  While the Garnetts' orange grove was quite famous back in the day, it has since been sold off and is no longer there (St. Augustine Orange Groves).  And, of course, one cannot mention St. Augustine without mentioning the Fountain of Youth, to which the girls pay a visit (p. 73).  Of course, the book describes the fountain being located on Myrtle Avenue, when in reality it is located on Magnolia Avenue (Historic Fountain of Youth).  But let's not quibble about names...

There are a number of other factual descriptions on the story, from the old guard room and dungeon of Fort Marion to the alligator farm on Anastasia, and from Lake Kissimmee along the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee.  The only hiccup I found in the locales was the mention of Sycamore, which is said to be a small town near Lake Kissimmee (p. 102).  In reality, Sycamore is a town located up in the panhandle of Florida, and well over 300 miles away from Lake Kissimmee!  However, this is a minor detail, as we certainly can't expect the author to keep all points in the story exactly as they are in the real world!  And this slight discrepancy certainly does not take away from the enjoyment of the story.  I mean, after all, these girls and their friends and fellow actors are making silent films at the turn of the century right here in Florida!  And I will admit, it took me a minute to put the film making into context with the time period, because I kept wondering why the manager was yelling out directions while the cameras were rolling, until I remember that in 1914, films did not yet have sound!  Thus, it would have been natural for directors to be calling out things to the actors from behind the cameras to keep the action and story moving.

The story itself involved only a slight mystery - it seems that two young women that Ruth and Alice had previously met on a train (perhaps in a previous book?  this story is not quite clear on that point) have gone missing, and it just so happens that they went missing from Lake Kissimmee!  As the story goes, the two women went out to gather rare wild flowers and were never heard from again (p. 103).  The locals and even their own family believe they were lost in the everglades, and all hope was given up of finding the two.  Now, it is funny that they are said to be lost in the everglades, as a similar plot actually plays out many years later in the 161st Nancy Drew mystery, aptly titled Lost in the Everglades.  In that story, a young woman goes off alone backwater camping and disappears.  Was that story lifted from this one?  Who's to say...  But the fact the two girls in this story were hoping to find a rare orchid actually has a ring of truth to it, since the Vandeae orchid, which also has a part of its tribe the holy grail of all orchid-hunters, the "ghost orchid," is said to be local to Florida (The Ghost Orchid).  Thus, yet another touch of reality thrown into a fictional tale.

The overall story does have some resemblances to The Outdoor Girls in Florida (published just one year prior to this one, also under the pen name of Laura Lee Hope!).  As indicated above, both stories feature a character who comes to Florida in the hopes of improving their health; both stories feature boat trips through the everglades, with fearful encounters with alligators; both stories feature a man/boy in tattered/ragged clothes who comes to the rescue of the girls with a gun; both stories find the girls getting lost on the river after getting all turned around following a picnic amid the everglades; and in both stories, the girls do not really play much of a part in solving the mystery - they merely stumble upon the missing individuals.  In fact, there is even a humorous reference to the fact that the two missing girls are described as real "outdoor girls" (p. 106).  Perhaps that was a slight nod by the author to the actual Outdoor Girls, who themselves got lost while boating in the everglades.

I would be remiss if I did not also bring attention to the similarities to the frontis piece illustration of both The Outdoor Girls in Florida and this book.  In The Outdoor Girls, the scene depicted shows a manatee taking off with the girls' boat, having been caught in the anchor rope.  A man in a canoe stand ready to take a shot at the manatee in order to free the girls' boat.  In this book, we see Ruth and Alice in a boat with Paul Ardite, a fellow actor and love interest of Alice, and the boat is being pulled by a manatee who is caught in the anchor line, while in the background, Russ Dalwood, the film operator, is just filming away.  It is funny that both scenes feature a manatee tangled in the boat's ropes and unwittingly pulling the boat away from where it should be.  The only difference is, in The Moving Picture Girls' story, Russ tells them to let the manatee pull them as he continues to film it, believing it will make for good drama.  And in The Moving Picture Girls, instead of using a gun to shoot at the manatee, Paul uses his oar to simply nudge the manatee to go under and ultimately loosen itself from the anchor line, thus freeing it without any injury.  I find it too much of a coincidence that the same scene would basically play itself out in both books (and in both stories, the girls are fearful at first that it is an alligator that has snagged hold of their boat!), and even much more than a coincidence that both books, just a year apart, would have basically the same scene as their frontis piece!

Two final observations I wish to make on this book.  First, I find the presence of the omniscent narrator making his/her voice known throughout the book rather interesting.  Perhaps this was more common back in the early 1900s, but to have the narrator break the fourth wall and speak directly to the reader, thus breaking out of the story itself, is rather odd.  This occurs in a big way in Chapter Two, in which the narrator point blank addresses the reader:  "...may I take just a few moments to acquaint my new readers with something of the former books of this series?" (p. 12).  And with that question, the narrator proceeds to give brief synopses of the first three books in the series, providing not only titles, but also plot details and outcomes of those stories.  The narrator then goes on to provide brief descriptions of each character who plays a part in the story, from Ruth and Alice, along with their father, to all of the members of the film troupe!  This becomes a four-page break in the story that basically has the narrator speaking directly to the reader.  There are other moments in the book where the narrator breaks in to give reasons for jumps in time or to simply skip portions of the troupe's activities that the narrator does not believe to be important to the reader nor the story.  It gives the overall a book a sense of being told to the reader, rather than an adventure the reader is actually taking part with, and the closest thing I can compare it to would the television show, Young Sheldon, where the older version of the character narrates each episode, sometimes interjecting his own personal thoughts into the events of the episode.

The second observation I wanted to make is the reference in this book, as well as The Outdoor Girls in Florida, to orange blossoms.  In both stories, the girls make comments about orange blossoms in connection with their trip to Florida, and in both instances, the references seem to have a relation to thoughts of marriage (p. 69).  I did not realize this, but after a bit of research, I discovered that orange blossoms, "[l]ike the white gown, have been associated with weddings for centuries because the flower symbolizes virtue, love, and fertility" (Orange Blossom Brides).  I guess, as the saying goes, you learn something new every day!

I definitely enjoyed this story much more than The Outdoor Girls, and despite the similarities, the actual writing of the books appears different, leaving me to believe this book was not written by Howard Garis, who wrote The Outdoor Girls' adventure in Florida.  I was not able to find any identification as to the ghostwriter for this book, but perhaps someone out there has some information and can share it one day!

RATING:  8 dangerous bogs of quicksand out of 10 for a fun romp through St. Augustine and the Everglades, with a bit of historical film antics thrown in for good measure!

Murder of a Movie Star - A Posie Parker Mystery, Book 5

Finally got around to reading the fifth book in the Posie Parker mystery series.  I have been thoroughly enjoying this series, written by L.B. Hathaway.  Set in the early to mid-1920s, it features a very strong female lead in a time when women were still trying to assert their independence in a world ruled by men and men's expectations.  Hathaway expertly portrays this prevailing belief at the time regarding women's place in the world, and I absolutely love how Parker breaks away from the mold of that time and not only asserts her independence, but also manages to earn the respect of the men around her while doing so.  This latest mystery is by far the longest to date, coming in right at 400 pages (398 if you want to be exact), but it is so engaging that I finished it pretty much in the same amount of time it took me to read her other books!

Murder of a Movie Star is the story of Silvia Hanro, a famous English movie star whose time is nearing its end - in more ways than one!  Hanro is nearly 30 years old, and her fear of being forced out of the limelight is first and foremost in her mind.  But also on her mind are the death threats she has been receiving.  At first, she laughed it off, but when she receives a final note with a severed finger, her film producer, Brian Langley, decides it is time to call in help; rather than the police, though, he calls Parker (in definitely the most dramatic way).  Parker is reluctant to become involved, but her best friend, Lady Dolly Cardigeon, who is totally enthralled with the film industry (she herself having been a make-up artist and costumier for the theater before she got married) and convinces Parker to take the case.  But Parker only has twenty-four hours to figure out who is behind the threats and stop him (or her), because the latest threat has made it clear Hanro will die the next day - which also happens to be the last day of filming for her latest film and the day of the wrap party.

And before I say anything else about the story, I must give kudos to whomever designed and/or provided art for the cover of this book.  The face of the woman on the cover is posed so that she is looking at the reader back over her shoulder - such that the right half of her face is in shadow, while the left half is in the light.  This face may seem trivial, but it holds OH SO MUCH importance to the story!  First, it pays homage to the comedy/drama theater masks - portraying the two extremes of emotions set forth in any theater production.  Second, it points out the duplicitous nature of the film industry, where nothing is as it seems - everything is fake and merely acted out such that the audience is drawn in and believes what is really happening on screen, when in reality, it is merely actors reciting lines in front of fake backdrops.  Third, it hints at the two-facedness of pretty much everyone involved in this mystery - from the actress receiving the threats, to the producer, and all of the other players in this game.  Everyone has a secret, everyone is telling only half-truths, and everyone - and I mean everyone! - is playing some sort of game.  Fourth, it unveils a carefully hidden secret about the first murder, one which Posie is the first to figure out.  Fifth, and finally, it provides a quite literal clue to the identity of the killer.

Now, that being said, let's go back to the mystery.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I could not figure this one out.  There were so many suspects, so many motives, and so many clues and red herrings, that I'm amazed Hathaway herself could keep track of them all!  But she did, and wove them all into a very intricately woven tale of lies, blackmail, love, hate, guilt, and ultimately, murder.  Silvia Hanro may at first seem to be a victim, but make no mistake - she's no one victim.  Is this all a huge scam as a way to draw attention to herself before her career fades away?  Brian Langley will do anything to complete this film and save his nearly bankrupt film studio - but will he result to murdering his own star just to gain publicity for the film?  Robbie Fontaine is the leading man and also the love of Silvia's life - or so it seems.  In reality, he and Silvia cannot stand each other, and he is tired of playing second fiddle to Silvia, who is the real star.  Would he kill to get back in the spotlight?  Pamela Hanro is Silvia's forgotten sister, the suffragist who has always been a blight on the family name - and she harbors a hatred for her sister for something that occurred some years back.  Is that secret and her hatred enough to spur her on to murder her own sibling?  Tom Moran is a man behind the scenes at the studio, and having suffered a grievous injury during the war, he's not the same man he was. But is he man enough for his true love, Silvia Hanro, or would he kill the woman he loves rather than be an object of her pity?  Then there's also Robbie Fontaine's real-life wife, Sheila, who seems to stay completely behind the scenes; the studio's cook, who seems to know everyone's secrets and isn't above a little blackmail; Silvia's dresser, Elaine, who appears completely obsessed with the movie stars and their glamorous life; and the man who has been stalking Silvia Hanro for some time, managing to disguise himself again and again to get past the studio's security and get close to the object of his obsession.  So many suspects, so many motives, so many opportunities - but only one of them is a killer, and if Posie Parker doesn't figure out which one it is before the wrap party, Silvia Hanro may end up dead!

Hathaway truly has written a masterpiece of murder mystery fiction with this book.  There are tons of plot twists, character surprises, and red herrings that will lead the reader (as well as Posie!) down a number of rabbit trails, before finally leading to an explosive climax that sees the return of a major player in this series.  It also, unfortunately, sees the exit of a lovable character that, quite frankly, I was very saddened to see.  This character, albeit a supporting cast member and not a major player, was one I had grown quite fond of and was hoping to see more of in future books - but, alas, that was clearly not meant to be.  And, while dealing with all this film industry madness, Posie also finds herself saddled with another mystery - what threat is there against Rufus Cardigeon, and why is he asking Posie to watch Dolly carefully and protect her at all costs?  When Posie finds out the truth of that one - well, let's just say the reader will see Posie's true nature come to light as she does exactly what she has to do in order to protect her friend - and before you think about it, know this: it will not be what you expect!

If I hadn't already been hooked with this series before, this book would definitely do it for me.  So many surprises, so many twists and turns, so many exciting moments, so many big reveals - I had a hard time putting this one own at night just to get some sleep.  Now I need to get on Amazon and order the next books in this series (I am SOOOO far behind - I think there are already 13 books out in this series) so I can find out what happens next in the life of Posie Parker (although I suspect there are several carefully placed hints in this story as to some of the adventures to come...)

RATING:  10 bright lemon-colored outfits from the House of Harlow out of 10 for such a superbly written mystery that truly had me guessing up until the very end!