Reel Murder – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
‘It was giving me a little chill to think that the murderer was probably right here on the set with us. It had to be someone connected with the Death Watch production, didn’t it? So many possibilities. I’d narrowed them down in my mind, turning them over and over, and outside of Frankie Domino – who still was the mystery man – all of them had a motive for killing Adriana. Sidney Carter had Adriana to thank for his ruined career. There was no love lost between Sandra Michaels and Adriana, that much was clear. Carla hated Adriana, and blamed her for the loss of a lucrative book deal. And Hank Watson? Adriana’s death certainly paved the way for his young girlfriend, Tammilynne, to step into the starring role. And if Adriana really had been having an affair with Lori’s husband, maybe the actress would have been angry enough to kill her. My head was reeling, and Nick interrupted my jumbled thoughts.’

Maggie Walsh is a Cypress Grove, Florida talk show psychologist. Her mother Lola is an aging actress still waiting to be noticed by an A-list producer. Hopefully, someone will notice her as she plays a part in a movie being produced in Cypress Grove called Death Watch.

Maggie is invited to serve as a script consultant for the show, working mainly with by Sandra Michaels in her part as a forensic psychologist. As Maggie, the director and assistant director watch the scene taking place on the water’s edge between Adriana St. James, the leading lady, meets with the killer Jeff Walker, the unthinkable happens. When Walker pulls the trigger of the prop gun, Adriana falls but the blood flowing from the wound is not prop blood. It’s real. As Maggie starts her own investigation in the death of Adriana, she finds the wasn’t the most fondly thought of person on the set. It seemed that everyone Maggie met had nothing but bad things to say about Adriana, making everyone a suspect.

This is my second book in the Maggie Walsh series that I’ve read. The 1st in the series is titled “Dead Air.” And it kept me going to the end. When I read a mystery, I like to see how quickly I can discover the guilty party. I usually make a note of the page number that I’m on when I make my decision. Sometimes I have to change that number many times before the end of the book. With Reel Murder, I had no clue until page #268 and this book is only 292 pages long! Mary Kennedy kept me in suspense that long! As in Dead Air, you will find humor as well as excitement and fast page turning.

Osbidian Mystery
June 2010
292 pages
ISBN #978-0-451-23084-3 ( )